An Indian Diary

AN INDIAN DIARY

[. Frontispiece

AN INDIAN DIARY

By

EDWIN S. MONTAGU

Secretary of State for India, 1917-1912

Edited by

VENETIA MONTAGU

LONDON

WILLIAM HEINEMANN I,TD,

J'IRST PUBLISHED I93O

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY

THE LONDON AND NORWICH PRESS, LIMITED, ST. GILES WORKS, NORWICH

PREFACE

This diary was written by Edwin Montagu from day to
day during his visit to India in 1917—18, after the historic
pronouncement of August 20, 1917, in the House of

Commons.

There was no thought of eventual publication : the main
idea in writing it was to give the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd
George, continuous news of how he was progressing in his
supremely difficult task ; batches of it were sent home by
each mail to him. Since that time, two or three other people
at the most have looked through it.

Now that India is looming so largely in the public eye, I
have thought it a fitting time to give this document to the
world, hoping that it may help to make a little clearer the
great part which the writer played in India’s destinies. The
welfare of India was the one mastering passion of his life : he
joined Mr. Lloyd George’s Government in July, 1917, only
on condition that he should go to the India Office, confident
in the great work which he felt he could accomplish for the
cause he had so much at heart. When he resigned Jjis office
in 1922, he seemed, in saying good-bye to his work for India,
to lose the greater part of his interest in life ; he was never
the same man again.

The diary was dictated, usually against time, to his
shorthand writer, Mr. George Franey, at all times and
places, sometimes on the back of an elephant, miles out in
the jungle. These week-end shooting trips were the only
way by which he could save himself from a severe breakdown,
which indeed continually threatened him. Whether he was

v

VI

PREFACE

the guest of honour at a vast tiger-shoot, with 1,500 beaters
in a Native State, or standing up to his waist in water for the
chance of bagging a few couple of snipe, he was able for the
moment to forget his troubles, which had usually redoubled
themselves by the time the train steamed into Delhi on each
successive Black Monday morning.

He wrote impulsively, and on the spur of the moment,
.•and the reader will continually find sweeping or hasty judg-
ments modified or even contradicted a few pages later.

In one passage he claims, among other things, that he
“ kept India quiet for six months at a critical period of
the War ” ; I hope that the publication of this diary may
not only substantiate this claim, but also throw some light
on an extraordinarily complex personality whom the great
world never understood, but his intimate friends and colleagues
knew to be passionately sincere and generous to a fault.

VENETIA MONTAGU.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DURING THE
PERIOD OF THE VISIT

Viceroy and Governor-General : H. E. Lord Chelmsford,
G.C.M.G., G.M.S.I., G.M.I.E.

Private Secretary: J. L. Maffey, C.I.E.

Military Secretary: Lieutenant-Colonel R. Verney, C.I.E.

Comptroller: Major J. Mackenzie, C.I.E.

Surgeon: Lieutenant-Colonel H. Austen Smith.

A.D.C.s: T. Holland-Hibbert.

E. B. Baring.

J. Denny.

Lord Carnegie.

Council : Sir W. S. Meyer, K.C.S.I., K. C.I.E. (Finance).

Sir Claude Hill, K.C.S.I., C.I.E. (R. and A.).

Sir C. Sankaran Nair, C.I.E. (Education).

Sir George Lowndes, K.C.S.I. (Law).

Sir George Barnes, K.C.B. (C. and I.).

Sir W. H. Vincent (Home).

Sir J. du Boulay, K. C.I.E., C.S.I. (Home).
General Sir C. C. Monro, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.
(Army).

vu

GOVERNORS AND HEADS OF PROVINCES

Bengal. — Governor: H.E. The Earl of Ronaldshay,

G.C.I.E. (Private Secretary: W. R. Gourlay, C.I.E.)

Central Provinces. — Chief Commissioner: Sir Benjamin

Robertson, K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., C.I.E.

Bihar and Orissa. — Lieutenant-Governor Sir E. A. Gait,
K.C.S.I., C.I.E.

Assam. — Chief Commissioner: Sir Archdale Earle,

K.C.S.I., K. C.I.E.

United Provinces. — Lieutenant-Governor : Sir James Meston,
K.C.S.I. 1 (after February 15, 1918, Sir Spencer Harcourt
Butler, K.C.S.I., C.I.E.).

Punjab. — Lieutenant-Governor: Sir M. F. O’Dwyer,

G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I.

N.fV.F.P. — Chief Commissioner: Sir G. O. Roos-Keppel,
G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I.

Burma. — Lieutenant-Governor: Sir R. H. Craddock,

K.C.S.I.

Madras. — Governor: H.E. Lord Pentland, G.C.S.I.

Bombay. — Governor: H.E. Lord Willingdon, G.C.S.I.
(Private Secretary: J. Crerar, C.I.E.)

1 Now Lord Meston.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. Bombay — Delhi : November io i

II. Delhi I 1

Bikaner j- November 11—30 15

Delhi II J

III. Calcutta : December 1 — 13 75

IV. Madras : December 14—23 109

V. Bombay : December 24— January 2 139

VI. Gwalior : January 3—6 166

VII. Delhi III j

Bharatpur I )- January 10—18 176

Delhi IV I

VIII. Patiala
Delhi V
The Crocodile

Shoot January 18— February 7 203

Delhi VI
Dholpur
Delhi VII

IX. Kheri: February 8—17

X. Delhi VIII
Bharatpur II
Delhi IX

V February 18—28

XI. Alwar : March 1—4

xi

252

264

290

xn

CONTENTS

page

XII. Delhi X

Jaipur

Delhi XI

March 5-25

306

Bhopal

Delhi XII

XIII. Dehra Dun:

March 26-April [5

34 »

XIV. Simla: April

15-22

XV. Simla to London: April 23-May 11

372

Index

385

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

the delegation Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

SIX CARICATURES BY E. S. M. 44

LUNCHEON MENU CHEZ BASU 82

E. S. M. AND BASU 82

A GROUP AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MADRAS HO

SCENE OF TIGER SHOOT GWALIOR I 68

BHARATPUR SHOOT JANUARY 12 , 1918 I9O

BREAKFAST AT PINJORE, PATIALA 202

LUNCHEON MENU- MANY MILES OUT IN THE JUNGIE OF PATIALA 206

MOTORING AT DHOLPUR 238

STARTING FOR THE DAY’S SHOOT KHERI 256

TYPICAL SWAMP-DEER COUNTRY KHERI 262

A SHOOTING PARTY KHERI 262

A GROUP AT ALWAR 292

E. S. M. AND THE H.H. MAHARAJA OF ALWAR • 3O4

THEIR HIGHNESSES OF BIKANER, PATIALA AND DHOLPUR 3O4

A GROUP AT JAIPUR 3

E. S. M. AND H.H. THE MAHARAJA OF JAIPUR 320

FOUR CARICATURES BY E. S. M. 356

XI 11

FOREWORD

The Delegation, consisting of the following members :

The Earl of Donoughmore, K.P.

Mr. Charles Roberts, M.P.

Mr. Bhupendranath Basu.

Sir William Duke, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E.

Sir William Vincent (lent by the Government of India),

Mr. M. C. Seton, C.B., Secretary to the Delegation ,*

Mr. C. H. Kisch, I D . c
. , „ r Private Secretaries ,

Mr. Alan Parsons, )

Mr. F. C. T. Halliday, M.V.O. (Indian Police),

Mr. G. E. Franey, Stenographer ,

left London on October 18, 1917, travelling overland to
Taranto, where they boarded H.M.S. Bristol , arriving at
Port Said a couple of days later.

They spent several days in Cairo, where Mr. Montagu
was the guest of Sir Reginald Wingate, with whom he had
constant discussions on Egyptian and Indian affairs.

The mission sailed from Port Said in the P. & O. Kaiser-I-
Hind on October 30, calling on the way at Aden for lunch
with the Resident.

Mr- Montagu held frequent preliminary discussions on
reforms with his colleagues during the journey.

The party arrived at Bombay on November 10, and this
is the point at which the story opens.

J Now Sir Malcolm Seton, K.C.B.

xv

November io]

I

BOMBAY— DELHI

Saturday , November io. I am glad to get off the ship, for,
as I have said, although I found it so thoroughly equipped,
it was tedious in the extreme. It is really marvellous to
reflect that we reached Bombay less then three weeks after
leaving London, and that despite the fact that we stayed for
the best part of a day at Turin, a whole day in Rome, and five
days in Cairo.

The study of Reform on board the ship leads me to a belief
that we have the foundation of a very fairly satisfactory scheme
to work upon. My Government of India, Dobbs ’ 1 scheme
for the Civil Service, and Duke’s scheme as clarified and
amended by discussion together seem to me good, provided
that the compilation of the B list is satisfactory ; and with
my scheme of fundamental legislation I trust I shall get a
little more out of Duke. But it is quite obvious that my role
in India must be to disclose nothing of any of these delibera-
tions, except possibly quite privately to the Viceroy, until
the end, and even then I am going to work hard to let the
whole thing come from the Indian Government themselves,
unless I find that they are incapable of construction to such
an extent that it is necessary to construct for th£m. But
even then I shall drop hints in a pretty effort to lead them
into voicing my schemes as their own. There are two
dangers : (i) that I shall be regarded as having forced a
policy on weaker men (if my critics only knew !), and the
other is that I should be regarded as a weak, non-contributory
factor, accepting the plans of other people. That danger to
me is vastly insignificant compared to the other. The first
danger might jeopardise my chance of carrying any plans ;

1 H. R. C. Dobbs, C.S.I., C.I.E. (A.G.G. and Chief Commissioner, Baluchistan.)

B I

4

AN INDIAN DIARY [November io

danger. Again I say that the social question, the fact that
the civil servants are willing to work with the Indians but not
to play with them, the fact that the Boxwallah will have nothing
to do with them, has really brought the present political
situation upon us.

Government House is in the hands of builders and cleaners,
so although we drove there to look at Freeman’s Kashmir
stag heads — which I do not think are as good as mine — six
in number, three of them very good, killed in the same valley
as mine, and although we sat out and watched the sunset and
talked on the roof, we were given most comfortable offices,
rooms and baths in the Secretariat Building, where I read
part of the afternoon letters from Ronaldshay and Pentland,
the latter protesting against a charge of leakage I had made,
but the protest does not convince me. Ronaldshay gives me
the news that the Mohammedans of Bengal are forming a new
and moderate political association as a consequence of the
Moslem League’s attitude with regard to Mahomet Ali.
Mrs. Besant has seen the Viceroy, to demand the release of
this gentleman and his colleagues. This has, of course,
been refused, and, much to my surprise, and I fear to Chelms-
ford’s anger, she has published an account of this interview
in the Bombay Chronicle . I do not think we shall get through
without taking action against her again, and I cannot but feel
some sympathy with Willingdon, who says,“ We acquiesced
in her release, but that does not alter our opinion of her, and
we wonder that Chelmsford should have seen her, when all
that she was going to ask for was the release of these men
about whom the Government had made up their minds.”
By the by, the telegrams that I received from the Moslems
are ingeniously worded. They ask me to see that Moham-
medans shall not be regarded adversely because they carry
out the injunctions of their religion to love all Mohammedans,
and then call for the release of this man. I cannot help
thinking that this is a difficulty we have got into for not

5

November io] BOMBAY — DELHI

trying to shake their faith in the genuine Islamism of the
Turk. However, there it is. I received a letter from Jaipur
in the vernacular, and a request for an interview from the
women of India.

And now I must record at some length my conversations
with Freeman. We were both so pleased with ourselves at
meeting one another that our conversation on my side was,
and I think his, completely unrestrained. So far as I can
gather, the policy which he is going to put forward is this :
complete autonomy for the Provinces ; he would even favour
their direct control by the Government of India ; complete
control of all matters by the Legislative Council, with an
enormous elected majority, something like sixty to ten, and
no safeguard on the veto of the Governor, which he says
he would freely exercise without hesitation, because the
Hukm is understood traditionally by the Indian and would
not be resented. This is a strange view from one who
believes in representative institutions, for the Hukm policy is
contradictory to responsible Government policy. This is
simple constitution making, if ever you had an example of it.
You see, he has been successful because he has sufficient
political sagacity to do everything by negotiation. There is
not the slightest doubt of his popularity, and in nearly every-
thing the people of his Province would do whatever he liked,
so that he builds a constitution upon his own experience.
But you cannot build constitutions for individuals ;«you have
to be sure that your constitution is proof against bad individuals
as well as of good instruction for good ones. His scheme
would merely frighten the people into refusing him much of
the powers he wants transferred to him, and I fear make the
Indians demand an appeal against his veto. He dismisses
most schemes other than his own as needlessly complicated,
but all constitutions which have to be legally enforcible docu-
ments are complicated, or, at any rate, appear complicated on
reading, but are not complicated to the people who have to

6

AN INDIAN DIARY [November io

work them and live with them and under them, and who are
often each only concerned with one small part of it. Freeman’s
enthusiasm knows no bounds. He pointed me out with
pride the great extensions and improvements in the outskirts
of Bombay since my last visit ; he was enthusiastic about his
private secretary, Crerar, and all his fellows, except at their
lack of political sagacity. He showed me the beauties of
the Toddy palm outskirts of Bombay island, which are
certainly very lovely, and which I had never seen, with their
tall, close-set palms and small, humble dwelling-houses. He
is enthusiastic about the shooting, and says that he is coming
to India regularly when his time is up ; in fact, he is bitten
with the place for all reasons as I am. He seems to have done
wonderfully with his model farm at Poona, and is selling his
cattle freely to the great Indian landowners and ruling
princes. Freeman wants the Indian Council appointed for only
three years, in order to ensure that they are modern in their
Indian experience. He even says that Sydenham is already
completely out of date. A wild idea came into my head while
I was talking to him which I am going to keep locked in my
own bosom for the present, but which I am going to pursue,
and that is to abolish the India Council and to have instead
four advisers to the Secretary of State, of whom two shall be
Indians ; to abolish the India Office recruitment from the
Home Civil Service and to recruit everybody from the Indian
Civil Service, it being an understood thing that just as a man
may be allotted to a Province, and from the Province to the
Government of India, so he can also be allotted at any time
of his service to the India Office, and have a completely
interchangeable system. I told Freeman the whole history
of the Besant case confidentially. He was amazed at it,
and said that the Government of India had certainly not
played fairly to me in not having made my share in it
quite clear. Of course they really ought to have meetings
annually of all the heads of Government for an informal talk

7

November io] BOMBAY— DELHI

with Chelmsford. I shall suggest this. One thing seems
to me to be quite clear, and that is that whatever scheme of
reform we introduce, it should be a model scheme, and should
be adapted quite freely, with the sanction of the head of each
Province, to the needs of the Province. For instance, if
Bombay wants a Freeman scheme instead of the model
scheme, it ought to be free to have it or something like it.
And you ought not to argue from the analogy of one Province
to any other. This is the elasticity for which I have been
striving, and, coupled with Roberts’ scheme, on the analogy
of the British North America Act, the Government of India
Act containing a schedule of matters which can be amended
by legislation in the Legislative Council of the Government of
India, and another schedule of the matters which can be
amended by legislation in the Legislative Councils of the
Provinces will do the trick. Freeman’s story is really
one long story of the remoteness of the Government
of India, and its lack of co-operation with the Provincial
governments — the formality and officialdom which ride
together. There is also his firm belief in the lack of training
of the Indians and their lack of courage. But while others
would wait for this, he is politician enough to wish to give
them a chance in order that they may learn and get a real
substantial chance. He warns me against appearing to
give something which does not in practice work out as big
and as great as it looks on paper. This is the burden of
Chirol’s most useful article in the Times which has been
telegraphed out. I am very grateful to him for this. He
is a little alarmed, and so am I now, at the association of
Chelmsford with me all the way through. I fear that Chelms-
ford may make all the things too formal, and I shall have to
fight him on this, if I see that that is happening. We must
have informal discussions, and we must take our time. Rather
than fail, I would stay a year in India and resign rather than
hurry things. If a deputation ought to be followed by

8

AN INDIAN DIARY [November io

prolonged interviews with its leaders, I cannot confine myself
to ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. I must be patient
with the deputations, and I must get at the bottom of matters.
I cannot be told that a quarter of an hour has been allotted
to a particular interview and I must not exceed it, or see the
man again. It may be necessary to talk about the weather
or go and lunch with somebody with a view to getting at
what he really wants and thinks. The stereotyped reading of
documents and the acknowledgment of them is not good
enough. It may be necessary to go out into the country
to talk to some people, and I shall put these views to Chelms-
ford to-morrow. After all, although I did attach the most
enormous importance to the announcement of August 20 as
one of the biggest things in the history of India, I never
really conceived the enormous importance of my visit here.
If one can imagine the importance of India, then the import-
ance of my visit becomes absolutely immeasurable. Think
not only of the people of India, but of our vast interests in
it, how those interests ramify into almost every home in
England ; think of the lives that have been spent and the
destinies of English families which have been altered for all
time by service to India. We are accustomed to consider
as something sacred the lives laid down in this War, the
wounds incurred in this War, the effect on relations by the
casualties of this War. So also to us must be sacred the lives
laid dowc or spent in India during the last 100 years, and the
lives that will be spent here in future. But that is not all ;
that is always true. My visit to India means that we are
going to do something, and something big. I cannot go
home and produce a little thing or nothing ; it must be epoch-
making, or it is a failure ; it must be the keystone of the
future history of India. Why do I say this ? Well, because
it has shaken and disturbed to its roots a country which was
rolling, as I believe, to certain destruction. The Administrator
realises that he has his marching orders ; he has his plan of

9

November io] BOMBAY— DELHI

campaign, and he has got to co-operate and is busy deciding
how it shall be done, and I have got to choose between the
different schemes to lay before the Cabinet. Even so far
as I have gone I can best describe what I mean by two things.
The first is the arrangements for my visit, with the Governor
meeting me at the seashore and the representative of the
Viceroy on board the ship. I leave Bombay at 10.30 at
night in a special train. The manager of the railway company
is told to accompany me to Delhi, to see that the train service
is all right, and all along the 973 miles the line is guarded.
On every station platform there are administrators, police
and soldiers. The terminus of the G.I.P. at Bombay lighted
with a few arc lamps was a sight I shall never forget. The
whole platform was covered with red carpet. Everywhere
that one could see were red carpets and palm trees, and the
whole dim light was glistening with the khaki of soldiers,
the red uniform of Government servants, and all the prominent
officials of the place. It had all gone much too far. The
special train itself has the Viceroy’s saloon, with a sleeping
apartment for my private secretary and my servant, and a
bath-room. It has a dining saloon, and first-class compart-
ments for all my friends. Nothing is wanting in comfort,
save the presence of the dust and the shakiness of all Indian
railways, which makes reading difficult and writing impossible.
At the rear of the train is the special carriage of the manager,
Mr. Hepper. Now all this is the reception of a king or of a
viceroy, and might be dismissed with the statement that it
has been overdone. I agree. I wish it had not been done
for many reasons. I am not the stuff to carry this sort of
thing off. For the first time in my life I wish I looked like
Curzon.

All this has been done for me because I am out here to
devise a new political system for India, and everybody who
knows of the preparations or sees them, everybody concerned
in elaborating them, makes it all the more obviously essential

IO AN INDIAN DIARY [November io

that the thing should be a success and that it would be
disastrous if it should be a failure. So much for the official side.

And now let me say a word about the Indians. My
arrival was an official secret, but it spread like lightning
through Bombay. I have little experience of Indian crowds,
but I have always been struck by their silence. Whether it
was in the Secretariat building, or in the streets, or at the
railway station, there were crowds, not silent, but cheering
and clapping ; not reserved, quiet and gloomy or patient,
but smiling and eager. Lloyd George on a land campaign,
or when he first assumed the reigns of government after his
triumph at Munitions, never got quite so much, simply
because in the former those for whom he was working feared
the House of Lords, and in the latter there was always the
anxiety and the doubt as to whether we should win the War
at least as quickly as we wanted. Would to God I could read
more doubt into the attitude of the Indians, for to the British
Empire and to India the crisis produced by the policy and
my visit requires the ability, the tact, the courage of the
greatest of English statesmen. I wish Lloyd George were
here ; I wish the whole British Cabinet had come ; I wish
Asquith were here. It is one of India’s misfortunes that I
am alone, alone, alone the person that has got to carry this
thing through. Of course, my friends and colleagues are
good fellows, but the responsibility rests with me. Chelms-
ford will $lo his best, but the responsibility rests with me. It
is I that have got to do this thing, and I spend my whole
time racking my brains as to how I am going to get something
which India will accept and the House of Commons will
allow me to do without whittling it down. We must wait
and see. I would that I could make it clear to those at home
that if the results of our deliberations are either something
which India will not accept, or a niggling, miserly, grudging
safeguard, fiddling with the existing order of things, we shall
have defrauded, and defrauded irreparably — for they will

November io] BOMBAY — DELHI n

never believe us again — a vast continent whose history is
our glory, and whose hopes and aspirations, fears and tribula-
tions it is pathetic to see. I am fearful lest in the excitement
of yesterday I have forgotten something that I ought to have
recorded.

I have just received Curtis’s latest scheme, which I have not
mastered, but it fastens on the word “ responsible govern-
ment,” admits the fundamental importance of the pronounce-
ment, and I think goes for the Duke sub-district scheme,
with the ultimate disappearance of the Provinces.

Last night, despite the shaking of the train, I slept the
sleep of the weary as I have not slept for years.

Same (Later). I have spent a peaceful day in the
train most comfortably. This route is certainly infinitely
better than the shorter route by Ahmedabad and Baroda.
Particularly when we get into Bhopal and before coming to
Jhansi we go through some gorgeous jungles and past many
an attractive gorge. All the scenery is green or covered with
vegetation ; the stations are well kept and well built. I
was struck by the sight of many roughly built little encamp-
ments on the edges of the cotton fields, on the sands by the
beds of the rivers, and on the clearings of the jungle, but
I discovered that plague is very prevalent all the way along,
and that these are the villagers thrown out of their villages.
I am told that yesterday was the first day at one place on
which they had not had a plague death for two months. How
often in India the most beautiful things are caused by horrible
causes. I saw the following birds : kites, vultures, king
crows, mynahs, surprise birds, pie kingfisher, shrikes, pigeon,
doves, crows, cranes.

I have read Curtis’s paper through. It is far the best
thing that the man has done, and I think the best scheme I
have seen yet, and very well written. Many of its conclusions
are those at which I have tentatively independently arrived,

12

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 10

and others Duke has arrived at. He seems to me, perhaps,
to be a little unduly wedded to the sub-provincial system,
and he does not seem to have thoroughly explored the diffi-
culties of Government of India versus Provincial Finance.
I also feel that he would have great political difficulty in
achieving the division of India into the twenty-four Provinces
he contemplates. Already I have received a telegram from
the Congress party in Sindh, protesting against the existing
quasi division between Sindh and Bombay, but before I
dine and give up work I want now to put the scheme as I see
it on this day, November io, before starting work at Delhi.

1 . Provincial Councils directly elected on a broad franchise,
partly constituencies, partly territorial, partly class.

2. A small percentage reserved for nomination by
Governor ; nomination partly European, partly of cultivators
to keep in touch with a territorial quasi constituency, and
really to represent the interests of these quasi constituents.

3. Governor may or may not be member of I.C.S.

4. Executive Council half English and half Indian.
English may or may not be I.C.S. One Indian at least to
be an elected member of Legislative Council.

5. Legislative Council’s wishes ultimately to prevail in all
subjects, subject to reservations below.

6. In. case of difference of opinion, matter referred to a
Duke Standing Committee, all wholly elected, to confer with
member of executive directly responsible.

7. Report of Committee to be discussed by representative
chosen by Committee with whole Executive Council.

8. If the Report insists on the legislation, Government
may ask Legislative Council to tackle the matter by a private
members Bill with draughtsman’s assistance.

9. Governor to have right of dissolution and of veto.

November io] BOMBAY — DELHI 13

10. He should only appoint to the Council sufficient
nominated official members to satisfy the necessity for efficient
Government representation in debates and discussion.

1 1 . Officials to have right to speak and vote as they like.

12. Government of India bi-cameral system as already
described in my notes.

13. Government of India to pass resolutions, called in my
notes fundamental legislation, limiting the power of
Legislative Councils on certain subjects, and refusing them
permission to deal with certain others. N.B. — This really
enables Government of India to set up an A list.

14. Provincial Legislative Council’s right to petition
Government of India to carry legislation repealing funda-
mental legislation or increasing their powers. This legisla-
tion called in my notes enabling legislation.

15. On receipt of such petition, matter referred to Com-
mittee of Government of India Legislative Council capable of
hearing witnesses.

16. Every seven years Secretary of State to appoint, by
statute, enquiry into working of Government of India Act,
such enquiry to deal with all cases in which Government of
India has refused passage of an enabling Bill, and all cases
in which Government of India suggest repeal of an enabling
Bill or further curtailment of powers of any particular Province.

17. Thus Parliament will have a voice in the appointment
of the enquiry, and therefore indirectly will have the oppor-
tunity of revising the working of the Indian constitution.

18. If Government of Province and its Legislative Council
desires Curtis’s scheme of sub-division into sub-provinces,
either permanently sub or intended eventually to replace
existing Legislative Council and Provincial Government,
or in any way to extend the scheme described, then these
are matters for an enabling Bill.

i 4 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 10

19. Frontier areas, e.g. North-West Frontier, Baluchistan,
to be under Government of India direct.

20. Secretary of State’s Council abolished.

21. If Stores Department kept, head to be business man,
or to be absorbed in Supply Department of Home Govern-
ment, e.g. old Ministry of Munitions.

22. The whole of the rest of the India Office Staff to be
recruited not from Home, but from Indian Civil Service.

23. Continual interchange between two countries.
(Query, also Colonial Civil Service.)

24. No Permanent Under-Secretary, but three civil
servants of standing, e.g. Judicial, Public, and Revenue ;
Finance ; Political ; and a soldier for military. You may
want a lawyer as well, and perhaps some of those I have
described as civil servants might be outside men. These
heads of departments would form an Advisory Council to
the Secretary of State. Some should be Indians.

These are very tentative, and in keeping a record of the
formation of my ideas, I may omit something which has
crossed my mind during the day. I am quite certain that
I shall have to go away and think at some time or other, and
that it will be impossible to work by clock.

November 1 1]

II

DELHI I— BIKANER— DELHI II

Sunday , November n. We arrived at Delhi at 8.30 on
Sunday morning, the 11th, to be greeted at the station by
Maffey, Chelmsford’s private secretary, Hailey, the Delhi
Commissioner, Scindia 1 (looking much older than when I
saw him last because he has lost all his teeth ; he has bought
a set of false ones, but will not wear them), Basu, Vincent,
and Sankaran Nair. We drove to the Viceregal Lodge across
the Ridge. It is a very beautiful-looking building, standing
in a spacious and excellent garden. In this garden is our
camp a row of commodious tents. There are many other
camps, especially the one of the Chiefs who have been invited
to stay at Delhi to make my acquaintance. Nothing could
be more comfortable than my own apartment — a large, well-
furnished tent, with good windows and a fireplace, two sofas,
two writing tables, plenty of arm-chairs. It communicates
by a short passage with a dressing-room, a bedroom, a luggage-
room, a bath-room and a lavatory. I give this in detail to
show that it really is a small house. From it are visible all
the glories of the sunsets and the sun rises. The temperature
is not hot, and it is really cold at night. It is interesting to
note that the order of precedence has been strictly observed
in placing all the other tents. Somewhat smaller than mine,
they are all exactly identical, and they are all arranged down
the carriage drive, with Donoughmore’s next to mine, then
Duke’s, then Roberts’s, then Kisch, then Parsons, then
Franey. You could not want a better illustration of the way
things are done in India. It never occurred to anybody that
I might want a private secretary near me ; all that was
1 H.H. Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, G.C.S.I., G.C.V.O., G.B.E;

15

1 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [November n

necessary was a strict appreciation of the blessed word
“ precedence.”

I will give now a short picture of Lord Chelmsford, not
perhaps as I saw him at once, but as I see him as I write two
days after first meeting with him. He has not the dignity
of Hardinge or the pomposity of Curzon, but he is quite good
to look at, with a fine, athletic figure, square shoulders, small
hips, well-shaped head, and a graceful forward inclination
of the body. Conversation soon showed that he is really a
good fellow, thoroughly nice, but unfortunately cold, aloof,
reserved. He seems to me to be strongly prejudiced in his
views, holding them very, very keenly, but I do not seem to
see that any of them are his views. They always seem to me
to be views collected from his surroundings. Oh, the fact
of the matter is — and it is borne in on me every moment of
the day, every hour, but it is no use because nobody will
believe me — the sort of man we seek to make a Viceroy is
wholly wrong. He comes from the wrong class. It is not
right to blame Lord Chelmsford ; it is only right to remember
that that is not the sort of stuff of which to make Viceroys.
They approach their problem from the wrong side ; they do
the work that they are called upon to do ; they wade through
files ; they think of their regulations ; and then as to the
social side — precedence, precedence, precedence. Every-
thing is divided into Government and those who are not
Government, official and those who are not official, Govern-
ment and the opposition. Informal discussion, informal
conversation, they do not know. Political instinct they have
none. The wooing of constituents is beneath their idea ;
the coaxing of the Press is not their mitier . Nothing is
required of them but to get through their files, and carry on
their social work according to the rule. Everything is
prescribed ; everything is printed. Well, this may be all
right for a Court ; it is all wrong when the Court is not
Royal and is also the Prime Minister of the place. I am not

DELHI I

i7

November 1 1]

at all sure that my mind is not now moving to a Royal Viceroy,
with a Prime Minister appointed from home for all the work
except that of a functionary. The junction of the two seems
to me to be an intolerable nuisance, and it is all wrong. There
is no such thing as an informal conversation, so much so that
the Government never does anything except by message,
resolution or Bill, and advice is never given by the non-
official or the people of the country until it is asked for — and
it is never asked for. I suggested a Conference of Chiefs
annually five years ago. There have been only two held by
Chelmsford and one by Hardinge, who objected to “ annual ”
and only wanted “ periodical.” There has never been a
Conference of Lieutenant-Governors and Governors. Is not
that incredible in a country like this and governed like this ?
I have suggested one, and we are going to hold one in January
— the first.

I wish I had time to elaborate what I mean, but I still say
that the social side of the question is at the bottom of the
political mess in which we have landed ourselves.

I have only been here two days ; all the Indian Chiefs have
called on me and talked to me as a friend, and I have got far
more out of them than the Viceroy got in ten days of Confer-
ence. They asked for interviews ; interviews were granted
them of ten minutes each because it was not considered that
anything but formal interviews were necessary. They have
all come back unofficially, and we have an hour and a half or
three-quarters of an hour together at odd times, and they
talk to me as they never dare to talk to anybody else. Perhaps
there is some truth in the allegation that I am an Oriental.
Certainly that social relationship which English people seem
to find so difficult comes quite easy to me ; and we shall go
from bad to worse, until we are hounded out of India, unless
something is done to correct this sort of thing. The man
you want as Viceroy must be a politician, and one who is
going to make friends with the Indians and insist on every-

1 8 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 1 1

body making friends, who will take his pleasure as well as
his hours of business with them, and get rid of the formality
which besets every operation of the governing classes in Delhi.

By the by, I see from Reuter’s telegram that Balfour has
made the Zionist declaration against which I fought so hard.
It seems strange to be a member of a Government which goes
out of its way, as I think, for no conceivable purpose that I
can see, to deal this blow at a colleague that is doing his best
to be loyal to them, despite his opposition. The Government
has dealt an irreparable blow at Jewish Britons, and they
have endeavoured to set up a people which does not exist ;
they have alarmed unnecessarily the Mohammedan world,
and, in so far as they are successful, they will have a Germanised
Palestine on the flank of Egypt. It seems useless to conquer
it. Why we should intern Mahomed Ali in India for Pan-
Mohammedism when we encourage Pan-Judaism I cannot
for the life of me understand. It certainly puts the final date
to my political activities.

Bikaner 1 came to see me at 12 o’clock, and we had a long
talk. After he had gone I heard that Duke has gone down
with inflamed veins of the leg, and it may be some weeks
before it is safe to move him again. This is another mis-
fortune, for his knowledge, and indeed his views, are often
of the greatest possible service. He has been taken to
hospital.

In the afternoon I had two hours’ talk with the Viceroy,
following a lunch graced by the presence of Bikaner, 1 Scindia
and Patiala.* Chelmsford told me how he had proceeded,
how he had had a Committee sitting ; how he had taken my
telegraphic summary of Duke’s Committee as the basis,
and how Meyer and Howard had worked out Finance, and
how they thought we were in agreement as to general
principles. I told him how we were working. I was very
anxious, I said, to avoid giving him any idea as to my views ;
I wanted all ideas to come from him. He would not. He

1 H.H. the Maharaja of Bikaner, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., K.C.O.

2 H.H. the Maharaja of Patiala, G.C.I.E., G.B.E.

November 1 1] DELHI 1 19

insists upon seeing the Duke Memorandum, which I must
send him, but I am certain that nothing adequate to my
taste will come from him, and I very much doubt if I can get
Roberts or Donoughmore to go further than himself. I find
myself so very lonely, and although my private secretaries
are very useful for the particular function they have under-
taken, no suggestions as to policy come from them. I am
alone on this trip, and I might just as well have come alone
for any assistance I have got so far from the others.

I saw Vincent and Basu yesterday, and I must have a talk
with them to-morrow. Basu seems very reasonable, and
said that the majority of the Congress would be reasonable.
Vincent was very dour, and said very little.

Chelmsford told me that Mrs. Besant said that she quite
realised she could not have Home Rule at once ; she wanted
the Congress scheme now and Home Rule after the War.
It really is impossible to believe in the sincerity of a woman
who seriously puts forward the view that you can have two
Government of India Bills within, say, five years, and that what
India is not fit for now she will be fit for immediately after
the War. The whole thing is preposterous.

I understand from the Viceroy that Howard 1 and Meyer
are ready to divide all revenues between the Province and the
Government of India ; land revenues they divide half and
half still ; and income tax they take 75 per cent, for the
Government of India, leaving 25 per cent, to the local govern-
ment merely as an incentive and for cost of collection* They
assign for, I think, ten years, certain sums to Bengal, Behar
and Orissa. I gather also that Meston has adopted the Curtis
plan, but Pentland has said since they do not see in the
Government of India scheme any sign of increasing devolu-
tion, to the Provinces they have nothing to suggest or to say.
Chelmsford says that the European Association can collect,
and has probably done some useful spade work, but nobody
else has. The Pioneer is now saying that it is in favour of

1 H. F. Howard, C.I.E., Secretary to Finance Department, Government of India.

20 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 1 1

reforms, but that our method, by my visit, of carrying them
through is opera bouffe'. They are also charging me now with
trying to saddle the responsibility for the release of Mrs.
Besant on to the Government of India. Really there is no
pleasing them.

Chelmsford showed me a letter from the Amir, promising
never to say anything or do anything as long as he lives which
is not in the interests of the British Government. Chelms-
ford speaks very highly of Grant , 1 but he speaks highly
of everybody, as one who is sincerely grateful for services
rendered.

After I left him I played three sets of tennis, Alwar 2 and
Chelmsford both turning up to play. Then Alwar came to
my tent and talked for about an hour, and drank a whisky and
soda. Very amusing to hear his contempt of the Conference
which Chelmsford had just called. The agenda for it
consisted of agricultural development, agricultural statistics,
precedence at social functions inter se, and the proper way
to number motor cars in Native States. Alwar set forth that
somebody may have tested the Conference idea with a bad
agenda deliberately to see whether any Chiefs turned up.
Perhaps they all thought this, for forty-nine turned up instead
of forty-three last year. Anyhow, they have determined not
to have that sort of thing again. They want these Confer-
ences made into a Council, and they have other demands to
put forward. Chelmsford has asked them to draft these for
our consideration, and a Committee consisting of Alwar,
Bikaner, Patiala and the Jam Sahib 3 are going to draw it up.
Alwar also asks again for the complete separation of the
Political from the Foreign department, which would naturally
follow if my scheme for a foreign member were adopted.
He also asks that the Political Secretary should be assisted by
four or five princes, who should be his advisers, so that the
Government should not make ridiculous mistakes. Of
course this would eventually develop into the fact that the

1 Sir A. H. Grant, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., Foreign Secretary; Foreign and Political
Department, Government of India.

* II. H. the Maharaia of Alwar vpct rrn?

DELHI I

21

November 1 1]

Indian princely advisers would become actually the Political
Secretary, while the Political Secretary would be their execu-
tive officer. This really is what ought to occur. If the
Native States as a body ought now to have some approxima-
tion to self-government, this would be a good way, together
with the Council, of producing it. The Council I would
ask to sit on an agenda that they should choose themselves,
subject to the discretion of the Viceroy, with the Upper
Chamber of my bi-cameral Indian Legislative Council.
Alwar also asks for the separation of princes who are entitled
to call themselves “ His Highness ” from Chiefs which
range down to one man, so Bikaner tells me, whose annual
income is forty-three rupees and whose kingdom is a well.
The proper dividing line is the eleven-gun salute.

Alwar returned again to the charge for the abolition of
the A.G.G.s. 1 I quite approve of this, and put it forward
five years ago. Why Baroda should be able to approach
the Viceroy direct, while Gwalior has to approach him through
the A.G.G., I do not understand. I would accept all these
suggestions in the form I have just described.

After dinner I sat in a corner talking to Scindia. He still
wants the matters that he talked to me about when I last saw
here effected, his guarantees raised, otherwise he wants
nothing more than the Conference made annual, not at the
will of the Viceroy, but by the decision of the Secretary of
State ; and two Indian princes added to the Executive £ouncil,
and the Viceroy to deal only with Native State affairs. I
told him that I thought this was impossible constitutionally
and then he came back to the adviser idea. He told me tha
he was developing all sorts of industries in his State, ever
including the growing of medicinal herbs, and that things
were going very well. He must have made a vast fortune
during the War, but, poor little man, I think he has got
diabetes badly, and he will take no care of himself.

Patiala, to whom I talked also last night, and who came

1 Agents to the Governor-General.

22 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 1 1

to see me this morning, has developed into a very fine fellow,
and has come to take a leading part in the deliberations of
the Chiefs. He is one of the nicest men here, but there
is no doubt that Alwar is far and away the cleverest of them.
One is talking to a real statesman when one talks to him.
He sees all difficulties in all problems.

Monday , November 12. This morning I saw for ten
minutes the Begum of Bhopal, the little woman coming in
to see me with just her eyes showing through a tiny square
hole cut in a heavy silken cloth which covered her face. She
speaks English very badly, her education in English having
been undertaken by her secretary. She disapproves of the
existence of Ministers, and says that she does the whole
administration of her State herself, with the assistance of her
three sons. She is frightfully keen on education, and jabbered
about nothing else. She was wearing some hideous jewellery,
which I understood was given to her by various British
Sovereigns. Conversation was not very easy, but it is a
curious position — this woman, alone, taking part in a Confer-
ence of Oriental Chiefs. She explained to me that she was
not an Indian, but a Pathan, although she and her family had
been in India for 200 years before the British occupation.

She was followed by the Maharao of Cutch, a very nice,
handsome Rajput from the Bombay Presidency. Alwar had
given me the upshot of all their grievances, but the Maharao
of Cutch added two other things. He wanted WilHngdon
prolonged for another five years ; he thought he was perfect.
That comes from having a man who has a little social know-
ledge and real friendship for the Indians. He also urged
the appointment of tribunals to consider inter-State disputes
and settle them. This has also been suggested to me by
Alwar, Bikaner and Kolhapur, whom I saw afterwards.
Some of them want it to consist of two Indian princes, or three
Indian princes to advise the Viceroy, and others of two

November 12] DELHI I 23

Indian princes, a judge, and some political officers. Cutch
feels very keenly because of his century-old dispute with
Morvi which we can find no way of settling. Alwar and
Bikaner would find it so useful, because they instance the
absurdity of some of the orders passed by the Indian Govern-
ment for lack of knowledge, e.g. the edict that only the
eldest son of a Maharaja was to be called Maharaj Kumar,
all the others being called Kumar simply. This, they say.
is idiotic. The proper title for the eldest son is Yuvaraj,
That differentiates him from the others, but Maharaj Kumar
simply means the son of a Maharaja, and to take away the
only name which actually describes what he is is only done
from ignorance. So, again, they say the Government has
recently put upon the Throne of a Native State the son of a
Rajput by a Mohammedan woman, simply saying that they
were bound to do it because they were legally married. They
were legally married, but it is quite illegal to do it according
to the Rajput law, a Mohammedan woman being really
morganatically married.

Cutch also wants the Scindia Executive Council idea.
Then Alwar came for another long talk, which was a waste
of time, but very pleasant, followed by Kolhapur, the principal
Chief of the Bombay Presidency (I think, on reflection, it
was he who expressed his desire that WilHngdon should
stay), and said he was going to meet me in Bombay. Yes,
I am sure it was, because Cutch is very anxious that all the
princes should be under the Government of India and be
taken away from the local governments. It is a comparable
grievance to the A.G.G. grievance, and it seems to me it
will become necessary to do it if the local governments become
autonomous, but there is the difficulty of the smaller non-
British territory that they will have to administer. Kolhapur
thinks that no Viceroy or Governor such as Willingdon
ought to be moved during the War.

Then I saw Indore, who seems to me to have gone all to

24

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 12

pieces. He is neurotic, ill, nervous, and refused to say
anything, but says that he will tell me all sorts of interesting
things if I will only go to Indore. There, he says, he can put
things before me that he has not time to tell me now. When
I asked him what he thought of the Conference, he simply
said that he would like time to consider his answer, as he had
not been there because he was ill all the time. I do not think
it was very useful.

I next saw old Jaipur , 1 having to talk to him through an
interpreter.

He is a fine-looking old man, with a white beard
and a beautiful dress. He keeps on explaining that he is
a goods train and cannot travel at a higher speed. I assured
him, because I heard that he was unhappy about it, that we
should certainly never interfere as long as we remained in
India with the guarantees, liberties, prestige, privileges and
independence of the Native States. He complained that he
was old and old-fashioned. He could not dine with me ; he
could not speak English ; therefore he thought ten minutes
was not enough, and he would like to come again, so that I
have to see him again to-morrow.

He was followed by old Kashmir , 2 who is really in his dotage,
who was accompanied by Daljit Singh, who used to be on the
Indian Council, and is now his Prime Minister. Poor old
Kashmir, they jeered at him very much at the Conference
becausevhe fell asleep.

Another lunch, the newcomer at which was Du Boulay, but
I had no chance of talking to him. Then a few seconds with
the Viceroy, who asks me to see each member of his Council
separately ; a short discussion with Roberts and Donough-
more, in which Roberts showed himself to be more conserva-
tive than ever about the demands of the Indian princes ; then
the weary work of dictating, which I am conscious I have
done very badly because I am tired. I already want two
days’ holiday, which I see no prospect of getting. It is not

1 H.H. the Maharaja of Jaipur, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., G.B.E.

2 H.H. the Maharaja of Kashmir, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., G.B.E.

November 12] DELHI I 25

that I have not the strength to go on ; it is that my work will
be badly done when I have not time to think.

I end up with a summary of what I feel to be the right
policy for the Native princes :

1. A Council of Princes to consist of either (a) all the
eleven-gun salute princes plus representatives of the others ;
or ( b ) representatives of the eleven-gun salute princes as well
as of the others.

2. This Council to sit under the presidency of the Viceroy
to discuss the general affairs of the Native States.

3. This Council to hold informal negotiations about their
own affairs with one another.

4. Everybody to be invited to make suggestions as to the
agenda, as well as to receive suggestions from the Viceroy.

5. Council to sit with the Upper Chamber at the invitation
of the Viceroy from time to time, to discuss Imperial questions,
such as co-operation in the War, etc.

6. Four advisers, chosen by the princes themselves, to
be associated with the Political Secretary, and to advise,
through him, the Viceroy on questions dealing with the
Native States ; to sit, say, once every six months, and two
of their number chosen from people who are not interested,
with a judge and a political officer to sit as a tribunal in their
inter-State disputes.

7. The abolition of A.G.G.s #

8. Residents to be addressed as to how they are to exercise
their functions, and to be reminded of the great difficulty of
estrangement, and the preference for persuasion over blunt
orders.

9. Political Office to be absolutely separate from the
Foreign Office.

After dinner a party was given of some 100 people, and
I sat on a sofa whilst various A.D.C.s brought up to me the

26 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 12

people whom it was thought I ought to talk to, and allowed
me just an insufficient amount of time in which to speak to
them. I had been allowed to mark on the list of invited
guests those whom I should like to speak to, but when it
came to the point, I was told that it was necessary to grant
a few minutes to each of the Chiefs, notwithstanding the fact
that I had talked to them in the daytime.

I had the pleasure of meeting Bundi, 1 whose looks repaid
me for the fact that he could not speak a word of English.
His beard deliberately combed to point to every direction of
the compass, and his very conspicuous make-up — died hair,
painted eyebrows, and so forth — were worth seeing.

Tuesday, November 13. On Tuesday morning more Chiefs
came to see me. I had a long talk with Scindia, who had
learnt since I saw him last that education was at the root
of everything — that the importance of education was a prime
necessity. Among constructive suggestions he put before
me first that there should be a Board of Education in every
Province, in which Indians should have an opportunity of
expressing their views. When they howled, said this sapient
prince, give them things that do not matter. He wanted also
that Gwalior should have a first-class Resident, by which he
meant that it should not go through an A.G.G. ; but when
I suggested to him that this meant the abolition of A.G.G.s,
he agreed, and suggested in the same breath that his Resident,
Jardine, should be made A.G.G. for Central India. This
shows their constructive capacity. He also suggested that
the Secretary of State should come out to India every third
year accompanied by some member of the Royal Family.
I do not know how welcome the representative of the Royal
Family would be, but I should like to hear the views of the
Civil Service about this triennial visit of the Secretary of
State. It has often crossed my mind that in every Viceroyalty
the Viceroy should come home to see the Secretary of State,

1 H.H. the Maharaja of Bundi, G.C.I.E., G.C.V.O., K.C.S.I.

November 13] DELHI I 27

or the Secretary of State should go to India. I had never in
my wildest moments — and my wildest moments are wild —
suggested anything as extreme as Gwalior seemed to consider
necessary. And then he let slip a very curious suggestion,
that Residents should be rigorously punished for their
mistakes. This brings me back to the universal complaint
of all these princes. They are at the mercy of the personality
of their Agents or Residents, and they all seem to have suffered
from this in the past. They all want some safeguard against
it in the future. Of course no constitution can safeguard
people against this sort of thing. The best we can do is
to weed out those members of the political service that are
not fit for their jobs, and issue a model set of rules for Resi-
dents, which requires careful drafting, that should be their
Bible and prevent mistakes. Chelmsford at least is in agree-
ment with this — that there should be a weeding out of the
service. But, like everything else, one is obsessed by the
vested interest of the Service concerned and the difficulty of
overcoming it.

I had a talk, too, with Daljit Singh, now the Diwan of the
Kashmir State, formerly a member of Chamberlain’s Indian
Council — a nice, quiet, old thing, who described to me his
efforts, which he thought ought to have been supported by
the Government, to form a moderate party in India, and
described to me his success as far as the Punjab is concerned.
He is a member of the reigning family of Kapurthala. He
believes that the whole problem is a problem of the employ-
ment of Indians throughout the Service, and he would rather
do this than give them any political influence. It is interest-
ing to note that although he sees the necessity for the formation
of a moderate party, he feels himself helpless without the
assistance of Government.

Scindia was very anxious that the Government should take
part both in the celebration of the Id, the great Mohammedan
Festival, and the Duhsehra, the great Hindu Festival, not

28 AN INDIAN DIARY {November 13

that they should take sides, but that they should hold a Durbar
in order to send, as he expressed it, “ many happy returns
of the day ” to each community.

I saw also Jaipur, who simply repeated the matters concern-
ing the princes — the assurance of their rights, non-interfer-
ence of British India in their concerns, etc., etc. He also
brought before me the subject of contracts entered into by
the Secretary of State with railway companies, which pledged
him to use his good offices to obtain rights through Native
States. He said that before any contracts were made the
views of the Native State Durbar should be ascertained.
This seems reasonable, and I mentioned it to Chelmsford.
He brought with him one of his staff with a perfect knowledge
of English, to act as his interpreter. He has consistently
said that his reason for seeking another interview was that
ten minutes were not sufficient for him, but I have ascertained
that his real desire was to see if Maffey, who came yesterday
as interpreter, would come again. Bikaner tells me that he
had to use all his influence to prevent his writing to Wood 1
to complain that he was not seditious and that a spy was not
necessary to see that he did not misuse his power of talking
to the Secretary of State. This only shows, even with an
old boy like Jaipur, with his long, white beard and his pride
in the fact that he is old-fashioned, how suspicious they are
and how necessary it is to be on one’s guard. Jaipur con-
tinually yses the simile that he is a goods train and can only
proceed at its pace, while the others are express trains.

Then I had an interview with the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar,
our old friend Ranjitsinjhi — in vigorous health, one-eyed after
his shooting accident in England, but a coming figure among
the princes. We talked about shooting, Cambridge days,
and all the demands of the princes, with which he is in agree-
ment. Notwithstanding their admiration for Willingdon, the
Bombay princes want to come under the Government of
India. Willingdon seems to have acquiesced, but the

1 Sir John Wood, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. (Political Secretary, Foreign and Political
Department, Government of India).

November 13] DELHI I 29

Government of Bombay overrode him. He pointed out
that of the 700 alleged Chiefs, 500 are in the Bombay Presi-
dency in Kathiawar, and the first necessity of the situation is
obviously the differentiation of the real ruling princes from
this small fry. One interesting thing that he told me was
that he had set himself to game preservation on the English
model by shooting vermin — hawks, crows, snakes, iguana
lizards. So successful had he been that he hoped this year
to kill a thousand brace of partridges on the limited land at
his disposal.

I had another long talk with Alwar to-day, and then after
lunch I was pleased to see Gubbay, who is now Controller of
Currency, and who was at school with me. He is making
good in every sense of the term, and Willingdon and every-
body else speaks very highly of him. It was very refreshing
to see him, and he spoke to me with the utmost frankness and
quite characteristically. My mission was doomed to failure
because it was impossible. Calcutta was in a condition of
turmoil comparable to its condition after the Ilbert Bill.

After this followed a vigorous game of tennis, which is my
only and weak hold upon health. Then Bikaner came to
see me, to say good-bye. We went over much of the old
ground again. He told me that he wanted me to settle this
matter and then to come out as Viceroy, and he assured me
that the overwhelming majority of a plebescite of princes and
Indian people would prefer me to any other Englishman.
But the achievement of settling this matter is, of course,
something which is almost impossible.

Then I had a talk with Chelmsford on his return from
tennis, up and down the drive. Very little transpired, but
I hinted to him that I had meant what I said when I described
the Viceroyalty in my Mesopotamian speech as being rolled
into one person — King, Speaker, Viceroy and Foreign Secre-
tary. He said that that was the best picture of the Vice-
royalty he had yet seen. I said that there were only two

3 ©

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 13

solutions : one was to separate the foreign membership from
the Viceroyalty. To this he objected, saying that the corre-
spondence with the Amir, the frequent telegrams which
passed between the Secretary of State and himself, the close
touch in which he was with the Home Government made it
impossible for the Viceroy to divorce himself from the affairs
of the Foreign Office. He asked me to talk to Grant upon
this matter. I said then that the alternative plan was to
separate the flummery of the Viceroyalty, which made it
impossible by the drain on his time for the Viceroy to deal
with politics, and which prevented him, by his exalted position
and the fact that it was impossible for those who saw him to
separate him as a statesman from him as the representative
of the King, from the Viceroy as a statesman and politician.
I hinted at a Royalty as Viceroy, with a Prime Minister
appointed from home to do the real business in the name of
the princelet. To my great gratification he seemed to like
this thing, and I feel inclined to-night to incorporate this in
my proposals.

Before dinner I went to see Duke, who is sweetness itself
on his bed of sickness. I put to him the plan which I have
already described which I have formed for the complete
subject. To my gratification, he liked it, indeed, the more I
see of it the more certain I become that this is the solution
of our difficulties. Tested by every representation that is
made to me, it holds the field.

C

Wednesday , November 14. To-day I went up to breakfast
to find that Roos-Keppel and O’Dwyer had arrived to stay
at Viceregal Lodge, and at 10.30 I saw Marris, 1 who is now
Joint Home Secretary, to deal with the Reforms question,
and whom I took completely into my confidence. He likes
my scheme, but he does not like either the Meyer Scheme of
Finance or our scheme, because he is anxious that the Provinces
should neither pay tribute to the Government of India nor

1 W. S. Marris, C.I.E., who was largely responsible for the final drafting of the

report.

November 14] DELHI I 31

that the Government of India should be interested in any
taxes levied by the Provincial Government. His alternative
is freedom to the Government of India to levy such customs
duties as they like. I pointed out to him that this fear that
self-government for India should lead to customs liberty was
at the root of the Conservative opposition to my appointment,
and I warned him that it would jeopardise any chance of getting
any statute through the Houses of Parliament or through the
Cabinet.

I next saw Claude Hill, and fenced round the subject for
one and a half hours.

I then lunched in my tent with Basu and Roberts. I was
pleased with Basu, who showed a very compromising spirit.
Again in conversation I found that my scheme got over most
of the difficulties. He wants a larger elective majority than
the Duke Committee suggest. He wants a broad franchise
and an increase in the number of the Legislative Councils,
and he seemed satisfied, in regard to the difficulties as to the
limitations of the powers of the local Councils, by my statutory
enquiry suggestions.

He was followed by Sankaran Nair, who is really an
impossible person, and I almost wish he were in England,
as Chelmsford suggested. His dissenting minute consists
mainly of ill-constructed suggestions, badly thought out, and
abuse of the British Government. He shouts at the top of
his voice, refuses to listen to anything when one argues, and
is absolutely uncompromising. At the same time, h£ has no
knowledge of loyalty to his colleagues, and consults the whole
of the Congress about every minute that he writes. If he
is typical of Indian opinion, I despair.

Then I went with Hailey 1 around New Delhi. I am
impressed by the superiority of Lutyens over Baker. Lutyens
shows distinction of architecture and novelty of idea which
is very refreshing and is obvious, although the basement
storey and the lay-out is practically all that has been done.

1 W. M. Hailey, C.S.I., C.I.E., Chief Commissioner, Delhi.

32 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 14

I am glad to think there is a prospect, by increasing his pay,
to keep Keeling, the engineer-in-charge — a wise thing — and I
am sure that there will be no difficulty in this. I sympathise
with Lutyens in that for some distance the view of Government
House along the main avenue of prospect will be obscured,
but it is too late to alter this. Hailey has not been asked to
express his views on Reform, but as Commissioner of Delhi
this does not seem to be necessary. He has, however,
formed his own opinions, and he reiterates, as so many other
people do, the difficulty of an Executive Council not depending
for its life on the Legislative Council, yet compelled to carry
out its orders. All half-way houses are difficult, but he would
prefer the Curtis system of sub-provincial division. I am
again impressed by his competence, but his optimism and
the way he smoothes over all difficulties is rather specious.

Then I had a talk with Sir Michael O’Dwyer. He is a
little, rough Irishman with great vigour of expression. It is
quite obvious that he wishes to impress me with the fact that
Indians in the Punjab believe that the announcement of
August 20 appears to them to mean that we have accepted
the Congress scheme, and on that basis he assures me
that they have put their names to schemes in which they
do not believe, and that if we could only get at the root of the
matter they would show this. It is quite obvious from what
he says, and from the fact that he alone of all Lieutenant-
Governors is averse to an elected majority in his Council,
that th® Punjab must be treated separately from the other
Provinces, and indeed it seems obvious that all Provinces must
be treated differently. Again my scheme gets over this,
for starting with a model scheme for all Provinces, it allows
Provinces by means of enabling legislation to modify their
own constitution.

I then had a talk about frontier matters with Roos-Keppel.
I like him as much as ever, and wish I could find employment
for him, for nine years, highly successful as it has been on

November 14] DELHI I 33

the frontier, is too long for any man to be Chief Commis-
sioner. I wonder if he would make a good Secretary of the
Middle East Department of the Foreign Office which I have
suggested in my Cabinet memorandum ?

Then dinner, and afterwards a long talk with Chelmsford,
whom I like more and more. And so tired out, and missing
my hour’s exercise, I go to bed, after spending some time
in dictating these notes and writing some letters, realising
that before a strenuous day of deputations I have to read a
long file as to what they are going to say.

As days elapse the one thing that strikes me is that we
cannot enter upon serious deliberations until the irksome
task of hearing views, which begins to-morrow in real earnest
and which is to be carried out here, in Madras, Bombay and
Bengal, is completed. Then we must set to it de die in diem ,
and I am afraid that the date I had set myself, the middle or
the end of January, for our departure looks to be quite out
of the question. I know that India does not loom much at
home, but here it is quite obvious that this is the one non-
recurring opportunity of achieving something vital, essential,
to our future existence in India. I shall, of course, determine
to come home as soon as I can, and I shall continue to work at
least fourteen hours a day, as I have been doing up to the
present, unless my health gives out. But nobody who was
not mad would spoil the ship for a fortnight or a month’s
delay, and I must be satisfied to come home as soon as I
possibly can without now attempting to fix a date or risk all,
which depends upon negotiations none the less important
because they are protracted, by attempting to hurry matters.

Thursday , November 15. Ye gods, what a day ! Really,

I do not know what to do. I do not think we are going to
make very much progress by this means. We have had our
first day of deputations, and I will put down exactly what
they are like. A large shamiana is erected outside Govern-

34

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 15

ment House. At 10.30 the Viceroy and I march, preceded
by an aide-de-camp, into the chamiana. The A.D.C. says as
we enter, “ His Excellency.” Everyone inside stands up.
Basu, Seton, Vincent, Donoughmore, Roberts, come in and
stand in front of chairs arranged on either side of two carefully
selected and perfectly equal chairs, in front of which I and the
Viceroy stand. Mr. Sloan, I.C.S., lent to us as joint secre-
tary for our work, then introduces the leader of the deputa-
tion, which is standing by this time in front of the chairs at
the other end of the shamiana, some eight or nine yards from
us. The leader of the deputation comes forward, shakes us
two by the hand, and walks backwards to a place about half-
way between his deputation and ourselves. He then pro-
ceeds to read a long address, a copy of which we each already
have got, with notes on it by the Government of India. When
he has read it, he bows ; Lord Chelmsford rises, and we all
rise, and Lord Chelmsford says, in the coldest and most
frigid of voices, “ I thank you on behalf of Mr. Montagu and
myself, and I can assure you that your views will receive our
consideration. Now will you kindly present the members
of your deputation.” The formula never varies, the voice
never modifies. At the close of it the leader of the deputa-
tion calls the name and description of each man, who solemnly
comes forward, shakes hands with each of us, retires back-
wards ; and when the whole ceremony is over the Viceroy
bows and walks out of the tent, followed by me. We sit
down until we are called for the next deputation in about
ten minutes. Was there ever such a hopeless situation ?
Were ever things done more badly ? Would it not be
possible to interrupt when something scandalous or contro-
vertial is said, and ask for an explanation ? Could not some
word be spoken to some member of the deputation ? A
medal is worn by this man which would give one an opening ;
another man one knows ; but, no, this is receiving a deputation,
and I am solemnly assured by all concerned that this is all

November 15] DELHI I 35

they want, and that this completely satisfies them. Well,
well, well, what a world 1 Never will it be altered until the
tenure and occupancy of the Viceroyalty is altered.

After two deputations had been treated in this way I
slipped away from the Viceroy, went back into the tent and
had a few words with each member of the third deputation.
But I am afraid this was a most unpopular move, and I do
not know if I shall ever succeed in doing it again.

The fourth deputation was from a sect called the
Ahmadiyyah, which is a modern sect mainly of Mohammedans
— they call themselves Mohammedans — which believes in
the brotherhood of all creeds and the authenticity of all
prophets. They read us a very long document drawn up by
the man they call “ His Holiness,” the son of their founder,
Ahmad, whom they regard as an incarnation of Mahomet,
which was far the ablest document we have yet seen. It is
moderate, almost too moderate, and it contains some
absurdities, like the getting rid at once of all foreign capital.
But it is awfully well written. It argues against the idea
of electing some members of the Executive Council, and it
argues very conclusively against the suggestion of all the
other deputations and in the Congress scheme, that three-
quarters of any community can hold up any Bill that it says
affects the community itself.

I saw His Holiness himself, who was too shy to come to
the deputation, or too holy, and who came to see nje in my
tent this evening. He apparently wrote this excellent
document himself and had it then translated into English,
which he understands but does not speak. He told me that
the sect numbered some half a million, of which 30,000 were
in Afghanistan and a few in England. He said it was
gaining by thousands every year. They allege much persecu-
tion by Mohammedans themselves and by all other sects.
He was weak in his argument about the foreign capital
point. He brought up the question of the right of English-

36 AN INDIAN DIARY {November 15

men to claim British juries, and demanded the abolition of
it, and said that under the Penal Code an Englishman meant
even a Hottentot or an American — anybody not born in
India. But he had a good mind, had carefully thought out
his constitutional scheme, which is very like the Duke scheme,
and he really seemed to me, in his non-resisting, all-accepting,
patient attitude to be rather like, if one can imagine such a
thing, an Indian Quaker. Shyness or something prevented
him from looking at you as he spoke. So ends the day till
dinner.

Between the deputation I had some talk with the Viceroy,
who seems to me to be tired out ; in fact he was too tired to
play tennis to-day. Poor man, the strain on him is certainly
very great. He wants me to take Meyer to succeed Holder-
ness. He is very keen on an interchange of staff between the
India Office and the Civil Service. He asked me to talk to
O’Dwyer about the impoliteness of officials in the Punjab.
He called my attention to the fact that in our Reform despatch
we always referred to the “ Letter ” and not to the
4 ‘ Despatch ” of the Government of India. I gather that
this is strictly according to precedent — that we write
despatches and the Government of India write letters, but
it is a curious thing, which I learn is very much resented in
India. Of course it would be.

I sent him last night, with a covering letter, my scheme as
a tentative contribution, a landmark in my mental develop-
ment. He says he has only just looked at it, but I fear he
is very much depressed by the fact that it is far more complete
than anything he had ever conceived in his mind. By my
talks with everybody I am strengthened in believing it to be
the only solution, but I fear wigs on the green when I finally
produce it authoritatively.

It seems ridiculous that I have only seen Roos-Keppel for
so short a time, but he really does not come into this scheme.
Chelmsford does not want him for any purpose, and suggests

DELHI I

37

November 15]

that he might be a Governor of a Presidency. The thing
that alarms me in all Chelmsford’s talks seems to me to be
that so little has reform sunk into his mind that he seems to
think everything will go on as it is. I fear this is an incomplete
account, but it is all I have time for.

By the by, I ought to record that, in my opinion, the
Punjab Government has taken no trouble about this matter
at all. It has not looked to see how Lord Chelmsford and I
can get a representation of the true view of the Province. It
has received requests from people to come and see me, and
sifted them, letting those come whom they thought ought to,
but they have never looked for people to come and see me and
tried to see that they are representative. To-morrow I am
going to see three Commissioners from the Punjab, who are
all parties to O’Dwyer’s submission to the Government of
India, and who therefore will only echo his views. Even
they never seem to suggest that it would be a good thing,
knowing what a formal thing an Indian deputation is, that
some members of it should see me privately afterwards. They
only arranged for me to see people privately when it was
asked for. This is the passive attitude which seems so
ridiculous to me.

Friday , November 16. I began this morning by making
the acquaintance of Sir William Meyer. I admit that it is
impossible to challenge, on my knowledge, the great ability
which he is alleged to possess by everybody who comes in
contact with him. We began with a discussion of Lord
Cunliffe’s idiotic proposal that we should have two rupees in
circulation of varying intrinsic value. This is a suggestion
which is beneath contempt, and in the Note which Meyer has
furnished to the Viceroy he is able completely to dispose of
it. But he proceeds afterwards to complain bitterly of the
treatment of India by the India Office, and he shows in it as
great an absence of any Imperial patriotism as could be laid

38 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 1 6

to the charge of any Nationalist Indian, and a complete
ignorance of the dangers which lie before the Treasury which
is financing the Allies. He regards everything from a very
narrow Indian point of view. I took him to task severely on
this, and then we proceeded to discuss Reform. He seemed to
be a little resentful that we had been discussing reforms at
all before we saw the proposals of the Government of India.
But he still seems to think that all that is wanted is a dawn ;
he still seems to believe that an answer to everything is that
it will come later, even when his proposals seem to be on the
wrong lines. We discussed further the dangers of incon-
vertibility, and talked of nothing but the serious nature of
these dangers. If they can be avoided, of course everybody
wants to avoid them, but it may happen that you have got to
choose between India and the Allied cause, and that is a
choice that he never permits himself to make. He told me
that people were very indignant with our fixing the value of
the sovereign at 14 rupees 8 annas ; he believed it would
have been right to fix it at 14 rupees 8 annas and 3/1 6ths, or
more nearly 14 rupees 9 annas. Well, I held out for that
figure, but I was beaten by the City. He told me that he
expected to have an extraordinary deficit on Ways and Means
on his preliminary figures. I admit that his prospects are
very gloomy. India is very prosperous, but unfortunately
all its money is in London, and how they are going to meet
this deficiency is a matter which must be taxing their ingenuity
very considerably. The Treasury Bills are doing well.

After Meyer I had another talk with O’Dwyer. We got
on much better on this occasion. I believe myself that he
would take my scheme, provided that he was allowed to
start in the Punjab on a small scale, and this I am quite willing
to accept. I told him I did not think he would get off without
an elected majority, and this he did not seem to mind very
much. I discussed with him the manners of the Punjab
Civil Service because of the complaints we had received

DELHI I

39

November 1 6 ]

yesterday. He said that there was notorious deterioration in
the matter of the Civil Service, but he felt that we were very
largely dealing with a particular and notorious case which had
affected His Holiness, the leader of the Ahmadiyyah.

He was followed by Maclagan, whom I was very anxious
to see — a nice, gentle fellow, very reserved and extraordinarily
soft in manner. He told me quite frankly that he did not
believe that Sir Michael O’Dwyer’s proposal carried out the
announcement of August 20, in that it hardly contains the
germs of responsible government, so long particularly as
it did not have an elected majority.

In the afternoon I saw the two Financial Commissioners
from the Punjab, Mr. Maynard and Mr. Fagan. I saw
Maynard first. He was in agreement with Maclagan, and
objected to O’Dwyer’s refusal of an elected majority. He
would have it small ; he even suggested a majority of one,
which is certainly as small as you could have it, but he wanted
it. We discussed the question of making the rural franchise
consist mainly of Lambadars. I pointed out to him that
this was indirect election, and indeed the Lambadar is heredi-
tary, so that it is worse than that. He said it is the franchise
which would be best understood in the Punjab at present, and
preferred it to a revenue basis. I think again he would like
my scheme.

He was followed by the second Financial Commissioner,
Fagan, who was accompanied by Thompson, thf Chief
Secretary of the Punjab, a very loquacious, square-headed,
determined-looking fellow, whereas Fagan looked ill and was
rather sour and quiet. These are two Tories of the old
school, with a profound suspicion of the educated Indian, and
a firm belief that O’Dwyer was going as far as he possibly
could.

Next came Popham Young, the Commissioner of the
Rawal Pindi division. He told me that he thought district
officers were too inexperienced to leave them without a com-

4 o

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 1 6

missioner over them. It would necessitate increasing the
size of the districts and putting senior men in charge of them
if you abolished commissioners. This would make the
district too large and deprive you of the chance of putting
young men in executive control. He is a soldier ; he has
done marvellous work in recruiting, having got 70,000
recruits, nearly all fighting men ; and he suddenly amazed
me by throwing over O’Dwyer’s scheme altogether as being
insufficient, and suggesting that the Lieutenant-Governor
should have associated with him a Council of two, one being
an Indian, and the leader elected of a Legislative Council
which should consist entirely of Indians. The Legislative
Council might pass Bills and Resolutions, which would not
be binding until they had been assented to by the Governor.
If the Governor objected, a special tribunal would be set up,
consisting of ten elected members of the Legislative Council,
together with ten officials, whose voice would be final. The
representatives of the Legislative Council would have to
include the minority. He wants deliberately to form a party
system in India. This is really a Second Chamber in disguise
and wants thinking out, but he obviously is thinking of the
subject and wants something striking.

Maynard came back in the evening, and I gathered from
him, just as I gathered from O’Dwyer, that they both think
highly of the Executive Committee idea, which would enable
you to have a much larger body and get over the difficulty
that on an Executive Council you would only appoint one
Mohammedan or Sikh or Hindoo every fifteen years.

After tennis I had some talk with Chelmsford. He took
up the attitude which he always takes up of “ I wish it were
possible, but I am afraid.” This really sums him up in
almost everything — “ I am afraid it is not.” We had a
little talk about reforms. It is obvious that Chelmsford does
not like my scheme, but it is very difficult to get anything out
of him, because he never moves an inch without consulting

DELHI I

4i

November 1 6 ]

his Council. He never expresses an opinion without con-
sulting his Council. The whole time, charming man though
he is, every document I show him he has to consult somebody
before he expresses an opinion. I think I went to bed more
nearly depressed than I have been yet, in fact I thought in
the night it was hardly worth going on.

To add to my other troubles, Roberts suddenly — not to
me, because unfortunately through the way that we are trying
to do business with this ridiculous allotment of half-hours
continuously through the day we have no chance of delibera-
tion — but in conversation with Maynard, threw over the
Duke-Brunyate finance scheme in favour of the Meyer
scheme.

Saturday, November 17. This morning we had three of
the usual deputations from the Zemindars of Agra and the
Talukdars of Oudh. These collections of landlords frankly
put before us, with unblushing effrontery, a desire for a land-
lord Raj.

After the deputations, Chelmsford and I had interviews
with five of them, one of whom did not speak English. They
are all very conservative ; would like an elected majority ;
but would not go far with the Congress Moslem scheme.
One of them suggested to me that they would like the District
Officer to have an Advisory Council, but on cross-examination
it was agreed that this function might be fulfilled by a wider
reference to the District Board. I think this is rather a good
idea.

I then wrote my mail letters, and afterwards saw Kishen
Kaul, a brother of the Maharaja of Patiala’s Foreign Secretary,
of Kashmir. He is a Deputy Commissioner in the Punjab
in charge of criminal tribes, and. he agrees thoroughly with
O’Dwyer’s scheme. He wants nomination plus examination
for the Provincial Civil Service, so that Indians can get into
high positions without going to England. This seems to me

42

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 17

to be a matter that was overlooked by the Islington Commis-
sion, or, if not overlooked, their recommendations on it are
certainly unsatisfactory.

I took a preliminary reading of the Government of India
scheme. This is very, very depressing, and the only new ray
of hope which I get from to-day’s proceedings is that the
Viceroy has suggested that my scheme of fundamental
legislation should be investigated by Vincent, with a view to
seeing whether the fundamental legislation could actually be
drawn up. He also suggests that if we have fundamental
legislation we ought to have a Supreme Court for India at
Delhi to decide whether matters were inside or outside the
provisions of such an Act. I have always felt that it would
be a good thing to have a Supreme Court at Delhi, with an
alternative appeal from the Provincial High Courts to it or
the Privy Council.

As regards the Government of India’s Memorandum,
apart from the fact that it shows no line of advance in the
future, which I think is fatal, I am satisfied that it could not
be accepted for a moment. I am sorry that my personality
is such, that my record is such, that the difficulties of the
Government are increased so much by my visit to India, for
it has whetted their appetite. But any Secretary of State
coming to India would have made it impossible to present
such a document as this to the people of this country. They
would shout derision. It does not concede provincial
autonomy, or begin to concede provincial autonomy. At
every stage the Government of India keeps its control, and
it does not go nearly far enough in giving responsibility to the
Legislative Councils. If they can go no further than this we
are doomed to failure. The Viceroy actually asks me to
consent to sending this Memorandum round, before we leave
for Calcutta, to the Provincial Governments. If this goes
round the whole thing is over. I am going to read it again
to-morrow, and then try and find time on Monday to write

DELHI I

November 17]

43

to the Viceroy to tell him he really must push his Council
infinitely further than he has gone.

Sunday, November 18. Lord Chelmsford, Maffey and I
left last night at a quarter to eleven for Gagranla. We slept
in the train, had an early breakfast, and an excellent but very
hard day’s snipe shooting. Net result, thirty-five brace.
I think we all shot very well, considering it was very hot and
we were up to our knees in water, having to pull our legs each
time out of the mud, so that by half-past three we were all
exhausted, Chelmsford and I physically, and Maffey being
unable to shoot straight. It was a jolly, long gheel completely
overgrown — the old bed of the Jumna. All the arrange-
ments, including the carriage to drive five miles, and the
bullock wagons, three, to drive one, had been made by a
little local Nawab. Bitterns, demoiselle cranes, marsh
harriers, fish eagles, big white-breasted blue kingfisher, a
jackal, seven sisters, sparrow hawks, shrikes, innumerable
doves were the chief birds we saw, and one cattle egret and
a large heron. Two of the snipe were painted, and there
was a large proportion of jacks in the morning.

The day was by no means wasted. I got far closer to
Chelmsford than I have ever got before. I like him better
than ever, but I cannot find any vigour or personality in him :
great conscientiousness, eager desire for smooth running,
complete armoury of consultation. He assured me that he
was one of the majority of his Committee. He tells me that
the Council were unanimous about Mrs. Besant. I am to see
Tilak in a deputation, but not in an interview. He feels that
the cross-examination which I submit people to is doing a
lot of good. He seems hardening against the splitting of
the Viceroyalty. I ventured to come closer to expressing
the inadequacy of the Government of India scheme, but I
would not express an opinion until I had seen my colleagues.

I forgot to record on Saturday night that we had just had

44

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 18

the most depressing information that General Maude was
critically ill with cholera. Just before leaving late on Saturday
night we heard the news that he had taken a slight turn for
the better. I gather that any improvement in cholera is
usually hopeful.

We have just heard that General Maude died last night.
It is a horrible tragedy at the most critical moment in the
Mesopotamian trouble. After consultation with Lord
Chelmsford, I felt that I should send a telegram to London
suggesting that Sir Charles Munro should go at once to
Mesopotamia, and that Kirkpatrick, whom Chelmsford
assures me could carry on here, should act as Commander-in-
Chief, subject to the possibilities that the Acts of Parliament
permit this arrangement. However, I saw Munro on Monday
morning, and although he admits the advantage that
he probably knew more intimately Maude’s plans than any
other living man, he feels himself, with much regret, too old
for Mesopotamia, and as he is very lame and looks very old,
I think this is probably true. I hear to-night (Monday) that
the War Office have appointed Marshall.

Monday, November 19. A dull day, but, like so many
days, not so bad in working out as it looked on paper. From
10 a.m. to r 1 a.m. there were the usual stereotyped deputa-
tions, with their usual pantomine, and the usual frigid utter-
ances of Chelmsford. There were five bodies represented,
all of them Moslem, and all from the United Provinces.

First there was the Provincial Branch of the All-India
Moslem League, with its Congress Moslem League scheme,
subject to certain exceptions and safeguards for the Moham-
medans ; then two more orthodox organisations, from the
deputations of one of whom I take the following gem :

“ Without in any way meaning to discredit our Hindu
brethren, by expressing our distrust of them to such an

SIX CARICATURES BY E. S.

oSvcf 90V f Ojr]

DELHI I

November 19]

45

extent, our instinct of self-preservation compels us to
always keep at a safe distance from them in politics while
exchanging courtesies and social amenities in daily life.”

These were followed by an imposing deputation of the
Maulvis, the orthodox teachers in Mohammedan religion and
holy writings. It was their first entry into politics, and they
were impressive in the way in which they explained to us in
a subsequent interview that their object was not to enter
politics now, but to make sure that if changes were happening
in India we should not forget the Maulvis and orthodox
Mohammedanism. One man said that all would be cured
if we ensured that no Mohammedan should be elected to a
Council who was not orthodox. When I told him that I
should find it difficult to know this, he said that the Maulvis
would always tell me.

But the advantages of interviews came out in connection
with the next deputation, the United Provinces Moslem
Defence Association. After explaining that they had come
into existence a few weeks ago to represent the more conserva-
tive Mohammedanism that was unrepresented by the Moslem
League, they presented us with a scheme which was lifted
almost bodily, with a few reservations, from the Congress
Moslem League scheme. The chief difference was that in
a Council of 150 members, 50 were to be Hindus, 50
Mohammedans, and 50 English. When we cross-examined
them, they explained that they had no love of this sche’me, and
that they would prefer that things should remain where they
were. When we asked them why they had advocated this
scheme, they said : “ Oh, I had come out to do something,
and if something was done they wanted this sort of thing
done.” We asked why they did not say so, and so far as we
could gather it was simply forbearance.

None of the other interviews were very interesting, except
this, that the chief spokesman for the Provinces Moslem

46 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 19

League interview acted also as interpreter for the Maulvis.
He had to listen to the Maulvis explaining why they did not
like the scheme to which he had attached importance and
pledged his faith. He interpreted very honestly, and when
we said how painful some of the answers to our questions
must be to him, he said : “ These gentlemen treated the
subject from a religious rather than a political point of view.”
The Moslem Leagues seem to be rather surprised that there
had been any withdrawal of Mohammedan support from the
Congress as a consequence of the Mohurrum Dusehra out-
breaks, but they explained them all away as being quite
temporary things.

The Imam of the Juma Masjid here in Delhi explained to
us how dangerous Home Rule was, and how careful we ought
to be in any reforms, but he was not very interesting.

Late to-night I saw Dr. Shija-ud-din and Moshin Shah,
representing the Punjab Provincial Moslem League. The
doctor seemed to me to be one of the most intelligent politicians
that I have yet met in India. He saw the difficulties of most
of the detailed features of this scheme, and seemed reasonable
in the attitude that he thought that the leaders would take
if they could be assured that their objects would be achieved
by alternative methods.

This evening Donoughmore has given me a severe blow.
He tells me that in conversation on Saturday night Chelmsford
told him that he hoped I was not thinking the Government of
India could go any further than their Memorandum, because
that was the ultimate limit to which they could go. Well,
all I can say is that this was not consistent with his attitude
yesterday and in our conversations to-day, and he has never
said anything of the kind to me when I have given him my
views of the Government of India Memorandum tentatively.
If really that is the case, we had better go home.

I had a long talk in my tent to-night with Meston. He
complains of the lack of sympathy shown by the Government

November 19] DELHI I 47

of India to local governments, and of their failure to consult
them much earlier in their deliberations than they have done.
He is the first man I have come across who objects to the
proposals to which I think we are committed that the results
of our deliberations should be submitted to the public for
discussion before being introduced into the House of
Commons. I and Chelmsford also think that we ought to
submit them, not as the accepted proposals of the Cabinet,
but as the proposals which the Cabinet desire to submit for
opinion to the Indian people. He admits all the arguments
against his State Council suggestions, but says there is going
to be a row in any case because you cannot give the people
all that they ask. It is for us to choose whether we shall
have a row by refusing to give them everything they ask, but
giving them something along the lines that they ask for, or
to have a row because we proceed on completely new and
different lines which are admittedly sounder. It is very
refreshing to talk to him.

Tuesday , November 20. This morning I had kept com-
pletely clear, because I wanted to go up to Duke’s Hospital
and have a conference with all our associates. Basu, in
particular, was very helpful, and shows a most reasonable
frame of mind. Whether he will agree to take the same line
in public that he takes in private remains to be seen. The
effect of the Government of India’s proposals, upon which I
commented in my Note of last night, has been to tally the
whole of my party to me in solid opposition, and they were
very satisfactory in their attitude this morning. These
people here, with whom I really have no patience, living in
their seclusion and in a firm belief in their superiority, are
really tinkering with the subject. They are not in earnest
in suggesting a fundamental reform, and they are very foolish,
because heaven save them if our tour fails. I am not going,
as I have said before, to submit to the Cabinet something

48 AN INDIAN DIARY [ 'November 20

which I do not think is ample, but if the thing breaks down
because they will not go far enough, I do not know what
their situation will be. We determined to draw up a scheme of
our own to circulate to local governments, on which Duke
is now busy. He was most helpful to-day.

This afternoon we had two deputations, one from a body
calling itself the United Provinces Chamber of Commerce,
one member of which, Mr. Krishnaji, was extraordinarily
interesting. They confined themselves mainly to commercial
proposals and tariff suggestions. They want liberty from
home for their tariffs.

Then we had a ridiculous deputation from a very large body
of people called the Ahirs, who lay great stress upon their
antiquity, the fact that the Rajputs were really a branch of
them, the assistance they had given to the Government in
the War, and the fact that Krishna was a Ahir. They are
quite uneducated and very pretentious, but they say they
number ten millions.

Then Chelmsford and I had a long interview with
Mr. Chintamani, the Editor of the Allahabad Leader . He is
an extraordinarily intelligent man, I think the cleverest
Indian in debate I have yet seen, and his proposals were really
extraordinarily reasonable. There was only one which I
myself should not be prepared to grant him, namely, an
elected majority in the Legislative Council of India, and even
about that I am beginning to shake.

Wednesday , November 21. I have had a comparatively
slack day. Monty Butler 1 came to see me from the Punjab
this morning. He is very happy as a Commissioner at Attock,
but is feeling very sore with the Government of India that
they did not take the obvious course of putting him on
the deputation to see to the carrying out of the Islington
Commission Report. He is a very clever fellow, of very
broad views.

1 Montagu Butler, C.B., C.I.E., C.V.O. (Deputy Commissioner, Punjab);

November 21] DELHI I 49

I talked to him of my scheme, and he favoured it. He
hates the official member.

Then I had a short talk with Meston’s secretary, Gwynne.
He is very nervous and shy, and I got very little out of him.
Of course he favours the Meston scheme above all others.

Gait lunched with me in my tent. He had very little to
say, but he also rather liked my scheme, which I put to him
very tentatively.

I then had a long talk with Chelmsford. He also was
attracted by my new scheme of two Chambers. He has tried
it on Maffey, who likes it too. 1 had a long talk with George
Barnes in the evening about raw hides, and I have nothing
else to record save one incident at breakfast, when Meston
asked dear old Basu whether he would rather be a Brahmin
or a Scotsman, and Basu replied : “ I would not be a Brahmin
under any circumstances.”

The last incident is that a small cobra about two feet long
was killed just outside my tent this morning. Snakes in the
cold weather are rather curious. Butler says he has been in
India twenty-two years without seeing one at all.

Thursday , November 22. This morning I had four deputa-
tions from the Punjab, and came face to face for the first
time with the Sikhs, who pleased me very much ; who
presented a fine appearance, and contained many old soldiers,
with happy faces, frank expressions, marvellous physique,
and, of course, beautiful clothes. Somehow or other tHe work
of becoming a B.A., LL.B., which is so prevalently under-
taken in modern India, seems to destroy the personality very
frequently of the man who undertakes it.

These were followed by interviews with five members of
the Punjab Hindu Sabha. The Hindu Sabha is chiefly
conspicuous for having adopted the main principles of the
Congress Moslem League scheme, but they objected to
communal representation for Mohammedans. It was an

50 AN INDIAN DIARY {November 22

amusing feature that Mr. Sarn Das, who was a member of
this deputation, had also been to a deputation the day before,
demanding communal representation. We tackled him with
this, and he explained that he was anxious not to quarrel
with the Mohammedans. His views were against it, but
if they got it, why should he appear as one who had opposed
it, so he joined both deputations. I asked him whether he
did not think that it would be right for me to join both the
Liberal and Conservative parties in England. But this is a
feature of deputations which make them almost impossible.

Next we had two men from the Punjab Chiefs Association,
including Sir Behram Khan, a fine old Baluchi, who could not
speak a word of English, and an interpreter. He came to
tell me, oh, wonder of wonders, that he wanted no alteration
in the existing circumstances, save a permanent land settle-
ment ; that all this talk of representative government was
wrong. We mildly told him that he was a representative on
a deputation which, but a few hours before, had asked for
something very like the Congress Moslem League scheme.
He said : Well, if we would insist on doing something, these
were the lines to go upon very gradually, but he did not like
it at all. I could not get him to understand how difficult
our position was if he said one thing in public and another in
private. Eventually he suggested to us permanent land
settlement and provincial control of railways and of the post
office.

Then came four little-educated, black-bearded, white-
teethed Sikhs. One of them, Jogendra Singh, was par-
ticularly attractive. He is a writer and lives at Simla, and he
had a complete scheme of ministries in some subjects and
second chambers which came dangerously near my own.

Friday , November 2,3. This morning I had a long talk
with Shafi, who was very garrulous, who explained the
history of the split from the Moslem League, and stated that

November 23] DELHI I 51

there would soon come into being an All-Indian Moslem
Defence Association. He claimed that Husain’s organisation
was quite small, in fact that the deputation included all its
members. We had a long argument with him about the
difficulty of that part of the Congress scheme which he
adopted allowing a minority to hold up legislation. He said
it was only to apply to Private Bills, which certainly makes a
difference, but promised to reconsider it. We had some
discussion with him on the Curtis scheme, but although he
said he was in favour of the formation of a Unionist Party in
India, and had long favoured it, he could not agree to the
splitting up of existing Provinces.

Afterwards Chintamani came back to see me. He realised
that he had been rather weak when the Viceroy asked him if
he called the Congress Moslem League scheme the first step
what the second step would be, and he came with a long
elaboration of this — the disappearance of the English members
of the Executive Council, the broadening of the franchise,
the control of foreign and military affairs, etc. He asked me
whether I thought, if I came to a scheme, I should have any
difficulty in getting it through the House of Commons. I
said it depended on the scheme and on the action out here ,
but that we ought not to make difficulties till they arrived.

I then asked him whether, if I could not get all I wanted, I
should take anything. He said : “ If you want only 16
annas and can only get 10, you should take 10 ; if jou can
only get four, you should not take anything.” I told him
that he seemed to have that formula at command very glibly.
He said the same question had been, put to him about what
his Congress deputation to England should ask for or be
satisfied with, and he had made the same remark. I said :
Well, this proved that the Congress Moslem League scheme
was not an irreducible minimum. He smiled. He told me
that he was very disappointed in Meston, because, although
he was a liberal-minded man, he was a bad administrator.

52 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 23

He reminded me that I had told him at Allahabad that Meston
was a Congress Lieutenant-Governor, and on that recommen-
dation, and Ghokale’s, they had given him an address of
welcome. They had now determined never to give any
Lieutenant-Governor, however well recommended, anything
but a farewell address.

Immediately after lunch we left for Bikaner. I have got
a very comfortable, though narrow-gauge, saloon, and I have
spent my time reading the Despatch on Rewards for Chiefs,
which I am not going to take more than a glancing interest
in, the Congress and Home Rule League Memoranda, which
are very well drawn up, and Duke’s draft Memorandum,
in which I fear I shall have to make very radical alterations,
if not re-write it. This is a pleasant prospect for a long
railway journey.

By the by, the Viceroy told me this morning that Sankaran
Nair had come to him yesterday, and told him that he had had
a letter from Jinnah saying that he was afraid that if Mohamed
Ali and Shankat Ali were not released I should be bombed.
The Viceroy quite rightly answered that a message of that
kind was not likely to influence his judgment. I have had
many threatening letters to the same effect, and I can only
trust to Providence and Halliday that all will go well.

Saturday , November 24. We arrived at Bikaner at 9.45
this morning. In spite of the luxurious bed, for some
reason or other I did not sleep well : I think I had done too
hard an afternoon’s work. We were met on the platform
by Bikaner, and went to breakfast at Lallgarh Palace. Bikaner
itself has very much improved, particularly in the making
of some new gardens and in the building of some very striking
red sandstone, three-storied bazaars. We went after break-
fast to the Fort, still, to my thinking, chiefly remarkable for
its old grey glass and gold rooms, and for its marvellous
Chinese tiles. We then motored out to Gujner, Bikaner

BIKANER

November 24]

53

driving, Chelmsford next to him, Manners Smith and I in
the back of the car, together with Denny, A.D.C. in waiting
on Chelmsford, and an A.D.C. of Bikaner’s, who carried two
loaded rifles in case we saw a chinkhana. The country of
Bikaner is now completely unrecognisable. The great
Indian desert is covered with bush and grass, and is not the
bare stretch of sand that I saw the last time I was here. This
is due to the exceptional rain, which contrasts with the excep-
tionally dry season on my previous visit. We got to Gujner
at a quarter past one, and sat down to lunch. There was an
enormous collection of people — I think there were fifty-
seven — lunch being laid in the annexe to the Palace, the
verandah of which had been washed away by the recent flood,
which had come up over the level of the billiard-room table.
The Palace is situated on the extreme edge of a great tank,
the waters of which wash its walls. It is really a dip in the
desert, and was nearly dry when I was here last, but now
there are something like twenty-one feet of water. There is
tree jungle all round, except where the Palace is, and the
Maharaja has got some spotted deer (cheetal), of which
he hopes to raise a stock.

Bikaner has asked Clutterbuck 1 to come at my suggestion.
He is a very nice fellow ; his presence awakens memories
of the happiest times in my bachelor life, certainly during my
last stay in India in the jungle, and his modesty is beyond
belief. I am thinking it may be possible to take a short
holiday with him for, say, a week, if I get very tirecl. He
tells me that he has already, on his own responsibility, made
arrangements for this when he heard I was coming out. He
is frightfully keen on industrial development and the develop-
ment of the forest revenues, and is going to give evidence
before the Holland Commission.

I was much relieved on the whole, because I was anxious
to get a little holiday, to find that Curtis, who was expected,
is so fired with his prospects of success in Calcutta that he has

1 P. H. Clutterbuck, C.I.E. (Chief Forest Officer, U.P.).

54

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 24

not come. For myself, it seems to me more and more obvious
every day that his attempt to confuse a geographical re
arrangement of India with constitutional reform is doomed
to failure.

Sir Stanley Reed, of the Times of India , was, however, there,
and I had some talk with him. What he really wants is
provincial autonomy and then firm provincial bureaucratic
government, coupled with a desire to bring the Native princes
into British India. He is a very willing, well-meaning, good
journalist, full of pious aspirations and no definite views.

After lunch, we were transported in launches to butts
built on the lake, floating on empty oil tins. They were very
comfortable and roomy. Our cartridges and guns had
already been placed in them, and in each there was a tray of
cigars and cigarettes. Ranjit Singh, or “ Jabbers,” an old
friend of mine, shadow of the Maharaja, brother of the
Maharanee of Jaipur, controlled all the shooting arrange-
ments, and signalled, from a specially constructed mound,
with red and white flags to the various beaters. We got 270
duck, but as I occupied a butt immediately behind Bikaner
and the Viceroy, where every duck could see me, I was not
surprised to find that I only got 16, whilst the Viceroy got
45 and Bikaner 50. Of course, the duck all came one way,
and might very well have come another. I shot quite well.
We came home in the dark ; lounged about under the trees
until dinner-time, while the flying foxes came out. Before
dinner there was an informal investure by the Viceroy in
the drawing-room, on three people whose Orders had been
conferred upon them some eighteen months ago.

Sunday , November 25. We went out to shoot sand grouse,
which this year was quite close to Gujner, in fact, across the
water and about 100 yards up the hill. The butts were all
over the place. I picked up 26 birds, firing 61 cartridges.
As these birds are far the most difficult I have ever shot at,

BIKANER

November 25]

55

and as the shooting only lasted an hour, and I had never done
it before in my life, I was very pleased with my shooting. I
think the highest bag was 32.

I have worked this afternoon, and got Donoughmore and
Roberts to assent to my revised Memorandum, which at this
moment Chelmsford is reading. Chelmsford this evening
is in a conservative mood, and has apparently, I suppose, been
talking to Maffey. I tried my best to frighten him, and
warned him of the impossible difficulties ahead if we did not
come to an agreement. I do not know what he will say to
the Memorandum, but whatever it is, if they do not produce
a scheme I like I shall then have to consider my tongue free
to say what I really think of the Government of India.
Meyer’s brain is, of course, a good one, but it is purely
destructive ; he is the best they have got. They have either
got to take what I want or stew in their own juice when this
Mission has failed. God knows, my scheme will be none
too popular with the extremists, but I have felt all along that
I must try and bring the Government of India with me, for
the sake of the Indian Empire, if I can. I myself would go
very much further. We had some talk about the relative
merits of publication for criticism and publication only after
we had agreed to it. I think we are committed to the former,
and it is obviously what Chelmsford wants. Meston and
Chintamani are opposed to it, the latter if the scheme is
properly progressive.

Monday , November 26. We arrived at Delhi at 9.15 this
morning, and I succeeded by omitting breakfast — of course I
had my early tea on the train — in getting into the proper
clothes and appear ready for the fray before 10 o’clock. It
then appeared that the Congress and Home Rule League
deputation had brought me a terrifically big casket represent-
ing the Juggernaut car ( absit omen ) in which their address
was enclosed. Absit omen , too, after the deputation, in

<;6 AN INDIAN DIARY [ November 2 6

removing it from the shamiana, it was dropped and smashed.
It is interesting to note this, because this is one of the sort of
things one has to put up with. Although it had been made
for me, engraved for me, and brought by these people from
all the ends of India, the Government of India felt doubtful
as to whether they should be allowed to present it, as they
issued an edict that there should be no caskets presented to me
by any of these deputations. I had wondered, but had never
mentioned the fact, that caskets, which are so usual a feature
of Indian deputations, had been absent ; but, of course, I said
that as this thing had come, whatever the regulation I could
not refuse it, and Chelmsford agreed. Its custody, as I have
said, will not be a severe tax on me, because it has been
broken.

We were face to face now with the real giants of the Indian
political world. We had not these dupes and adherents from
the Provinces, but we had here a collection of the first-class
politicians of the various Provinces. Old Surendrenath
Bannerjea, the veteran from Bengal, read the address, which
was beautifully written and beautifully read. There was
Mudholkar from the Central Provinces, Jinnah from Bombay,
Mazhar-ul-Haq and Hassan Imam from Bihar and Orissa,
Gandhi, Mrs. Besant, Vesava Pillai, and so on. All the
brains of the movement were there. But the difficulty is,
as I have so often said, that owing to the thinness with which
we have spread education, they have run generations away
from the* rest of India, and, whatever might be done in theory,
in practice this would be only another and indigenous
autocracy.

The Congress and Moslem League were followed by the
Punjab Provincial Congress, with a shorter but good address ;
and then Mrs. Besant and the great Tilak came with their
Home Rule League, and read us a more extreme and a bitter
address, but one which was undoubtedly interesting and good.
Of course the Home Rule League’s demands are the same as

November 26] DELHI II 57

the Congress’s, the Home Rule League really having been
started to do the propaganda for the rather old-fashioned
Congress. Mrs. Besant told me that she found that Congress
held its meetings near by Christmas each year, and between
whiles went to sleep. It is her activity and her League which
has really stirred the country up into a condition in which it
is no longer true to say that political interest is confined to
the educated classes. They are all seething with a desire
for some change. Mrs. Besant, in her white and gold
embroidered Indian clothes, with her short, white hair, and the
most beautiful voice I have ever heard, was very impressive,
and read magnificently. Again a casket was presented, this
time quite an attractive object, an elephant tusk.

The rest of the day was spent in interviews. First came
Surendrenath Bannerjea and Mudholkar. Bannerjea was
loquacity itself garrulous, sedulous, but there was no sign
of moderation or compromise in him. The Congress scheme
was the least he would accept. This scheme really in its
essence excludes naval and military matters, but on all matters
of internal administration makes the irremovable Executive
responsible to an elected majority on the Councils, and gives
them the power of the purse, so that it is practically responsible
government at one fell swoop. They would hear of no
alternative.

They were followed by Jinnah, young, perfectly mannered,
impressive-looking, armed to the teeth with dialectics, and
insistent upon the whole of his scheme. All its shortcomings,
all its drawbacks, the elected members of the Executive
Council, the power of the minority to hold up legislation, the
complete control of the Executive in all matters of finance —
all these were defended as the best makeshifts they could
devise short of responsible government. Nothing else would
satisfy them. They would rather have nothing if they could
not get the whole lot. I was rather tired and I funked him.
Chelmsford tried to argue with him, and was tied up into

58 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 26

knots. Jinnah is a very clever man, and it is, of course, an
outrage that such a man should have no chance of running
the affairs of his own country.

Afterwards we saw the renowned Gandhi. He is a social
reformer ; he has a real desire to find grievances and to cure
them, not for any reasons of self-advertisement, but to improve
the conditions of his fellow men. He is the real hero of the
settlement of the Indian question in South Africa, where he
suffered imprisonment. He has just been helping the
Government to find a solution for the grievances of the
indigo labour in Bihar. He dresses like a coolie, forswears
all personal advancement, lives practically on the air, and is
a pure visionary. He does not understand details of schemes ;
all he wants is that we should get India on our side. He wants
the millions of India to leap to the assistance of the British
throne. In fact, I may say here that, revolutionary or not,
loathing or not as they may do the Indian Civil Service, none
of these Indians show any sign of wanting to be removed from
connection with the British throne.

And then at six we saw Mrs. Besant herself. This was an
interesting interview, if ever I had one. She gave me the
history of the Home Rule League, how she felt it necessary
to get hold of the young boys ; how if the Home Rule League
policy could be carried out she was certain that they would
forswear anarchy and come on to the side of the constitutional
movement. She assured us solemnly that India would have,
and insisted upon having, the power of the purse and the
control of the Executive. She fought shy of all the financial
problems. She said she was not a financial expert. She got
over difficulties in that way. She kept her silvery, quiet
voice, and really impressed me enormously. If only the
Government had kept this old woman on our side ! If only
she had been well handled from the beginning ! If only her
vanity had been appealed to ! She is an amusing old thing,
in that, knowing perfectly well that the interview was to be

November 26] DELHI II 59

in Chelmsford’s room (because they take good care that I
should never see anybody important without him), she turned
up and sat in my tent, and, coming in from dressing, I found
her waiting there. I told her the interview was in Chelms-
ford’s room, and she drove me up in her motor car, and
explained to me that the fact that I had not received a welcome
from the Indian people was simply due to their recognition
that the Government would not allow it. She implored us
to come to the Congress. Oh, if only Lloyd George were in
charge of this thing ! He would, of course, dash down to
the Congress and make them a great oration. I am prevented
from doing this. It might save the whole situation. But
the Government of India have carefully arranged our plans
so that we shall be in Bombay when the Congress, the real
Indian political movement, is in Calcutta, and now they plead
plans as an excuse for not accepting the invitation which is
showered on us.

I forgot to chronicle an amusing incident of the morning.
After the Home Rule League deputation, Mrs. Besant and
Tilak came forward to present to Chelmsford and myself
copies of their memorial. Mrs. Besant asked the Viceroy if
she might put a garland round his neck. He told her “ No,”
and took it in his hands. Tilak did not ask me, but placed
the garland round my neck, so that, if it gets out, it will be
found that I have been garlanded by the renowned Tilak,
who is only a few years out of seven years penal servitude for
being, at any rate, indirectly connected by his newspaper
writings with the murder of an Indian official.

Another amusing incident happened at the close of the
interview with Mrs. Besant, at which she demanded our
presence at the Congress. She said : “ You know that I
am President of the Theosophical Society, and I want to ask
you two whether, if I do what they want me to do and go home,
I should be allowed to come back to India.” This was not
a matter connected with reforms, and I was not allowed,

6 o

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 26

therefore, to express an opinion, but I am bound to say I
admired Chelmsford’s handling of this awkward question
more than anything I have ever seen Chelmsford do. His
face broke into a sweet smile, and he said : “ Well really,
Mrs. Besant, you know that my desire is to get you safely out
of India. Do you think it is likely, if I ever achieved this
great end, I should let you come back ? ” “ Oh,” she said,

“ then I shall not go.” Chelmsford said, still laughing : “ Is
it human to expect the Government would allow you to come
back and make more trouble for us if we once got rid of you ? ”
She laughed too. Then he said : “ But as a matter of fact,
it is against the rules for a woman to travel now.” “ Oh,”
she said, “ but they will not mind my being drowned.”
“ Well, the only thing that would make them let you go,” he
said, “ was if I said I wanted to get rid of you from India.”
It was all good-tempered, and mostly chaff, and I think she
went away quite satisfied.

Sir Benjamin Robertson dined with me in my tent alone.
He is the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, and
one of the best men in the Civil Service. Of course I knew
him well, for I had stayed with him for some time when I was
here last. He realises that what he asked for and suggested
when he was called upon to express an opinion last September
is now impossible. He says there has been a tremendous
hardening of public opinion, which will make it absolutely
essential to go much further than he wanted then. People
who were quite prepared for the administrative training
provided by Standing Committees now will not look at it.
He would have liked Meston’s scheme of sub-provincial
Councils were it not that he hates the idea of splitting up and
the impossibility of two governments in the same area. I
suggested to him my scheme, which got rid of some of these
difficulties, and which he thought was the best that he had
seen.

November 27] DELHI II 61

Tuesday , November 27. This morning we met round
Duke’s bedside and spent the morning there. Basu has put
in a memorandum, very moderate in tone, accepting really
the Duke scheme plus a second Chamber of the Government
of India. We discussed it, and found ourselves in agree-
ment. The one frightening thing of the situation was
Roberts’s attitude. He has been completely unnerved by
these Congress people. He says that a wave of political
feeling is sweeping over the country, which is true, but that
they will accept nothing that we can give them ; that even
if we could give them what they ask for or anything approach-
ing it, Curzon, Milner, Bonar Law, etc., would never take it.
I begged him not to consider it from that point of view, but
to be prepared to recommend what he thought was right.
He was almost hysterical in his profound pessimism ; had
no remedy to offer, no suggestion to make, but was incurably
certain that nothing but disaster was ahead of us. I, too,
have been feeling recently that even my proposals fall short
of what is necessary for the situation, but I wish I could see
my way clearly to something more that was practicable in the
present state of Indian education.

Then after lunch we saw Tilak, the politician who probably
has the greatest influence of any person in India, and who is
very extreme. His procession to Delhi to see me was a
veritable triumphant one. He was really the author of the
Congress League scheme, and although he did not impress me
very much in argument, he is a scientific man of great Audition
and training. It was quite obvious that he was not going
to be satisfied with anything but what the Congress asks for.
“ We shall take whatever the Government gives us,” he said,
'* but it will not satisfy us unless it is at least what the Congress
asks.”

Pandit Madan Malaviya, the most active politician in any
Council, followed. He is a man of beautiful appearance, a
Brahman clad in white (Tilak was also in white, with bare

62

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 27

feet), with a beautiful voice, perfect manners, and an insatiable
ambition. He is a great leader on the Legislative Assembly.
He assured us also that if we did not give everything that they
asked for, which they did not believe was in any way too much,
which they refused to see was going too fast, there would be
continued agitation. The power of the purse and the control
of the Executive was essential at once. I kept on putting
to him that if that was so they had much better have complete
responsible Government.

After this we saw four men from the United Provinces
together. It is quite true that when you have these joint
interviews you do not get so much out of them, but what
struck me very much was the good temper of this interview
with these men, who were not, of course, leaders. Moti Lai
Nehru has been a great firebrand to Meston, but even he,
and more particularly Sapru and the old Pandit Misra, seemed
to be quite willing to consider something less than the scheme,
the difficulties inherent in which they saw, if only they were
satisfied that we meant business, and that they could get
responsible government in, say, twenty years.

It is all very depressing. It seems to me quite clear that
as we have not touched a single one of the leaders, it is useless
to count upon these lesser men, who will be swept off their
feet when their leaders start an agitation again ; and I stop
the day’s work, feeling that we must see if we cannot go
further. Indeed, the scheme that Duke suggested to-day,
for an appeal when the two parts of the Budget were matters
of controversy, the A part and the B part, is a step in the right
direction.

I have had an interesting day, in which, of course, there has
been some waste of time, and I have very little to record. In
the morning I saw four civil servants, three from the United
Provinces and one the Chief Secretary of the Central Provinces.

Sir Verney Lovett, who came first, and who is Revenue
Commissioner, is a wise old thing who backs on the whole,

DELHI II

November 27]

63

rather reluctantly, not Meston’s scheme, but the scheme of
the U.P. Committee. He wants the Division as the unit of
the State Council. He thinks it is ridiculous ever to look
forward to the Provinces as a disappearing unit, and he says
that communal representation must be now continued in
India. I told him that a Division was, in most Provinces, a
quite unnatural division of territory, and I gave him my
scheme as an alternative. He asked me what I would do if
my Ministry was quite unsatisfactory. I said you could
dissolve the elected Chamber. He then said : “ But what if
you get the same lot back again ? ” I said : “ What would
you do under your scheme in a similar situation with a Divis-
ional Council ? ” “ Oh,” he said, “ there you would have

a row in the Division ; I would have a row in the whole
Province.” That is true, but I do feel very strongly that
you must trust these people. Everybody is looking for
statutory safeguards, which make them all think that we view
them with suspicion. Surely a much better way is to do
what we have done in every other country, and give them a
sense of responsibility by imposing confidence in them.

Then we had a deputation of Zemindars from a district
of the United Provinces. They had nothing much to say, a
few generalities about the improvement of agriculture, a
regret that cattle were being slaughtered so quickly, and
then they added a summary of the nineteen members’ recom-
mendations. I saw two of them afterwards, but I did not
pursue the question far, because it was not of much importance.
I am told that the whole thing is organised by one man who
has very little influence, and hangs on to the skirts of the
Congress.

Then a little tennis ; then good-bye to Sir Benjamin
Robertson ; then an interview with a fine old soldier, Subedar-
Major and Honorary Captain the Honourable Ajab Khan,
Sardar Bahadur, whom the Viceroy has added as a representa-
tive of the soldiers to his Council. He talked simply about

6 4 AN INDIAN DIARY [. November 27

commissions, the rewards of soldiers, their after-war care. I
am firmly convinced that India is not doing enough in this
matter, but the difficulty is that the Indian people do not
regard soldiers with honour, as we do, and when they retire,
being poorer than the cultivator, they do not carry much
weight. We really ought to look after them, and I am going
to look into this matter.

I wish I had more time. I have continually to work at a
terrific pressure, because every attempt is being made to
hurry me in order to get me out of the country. I cannot
go now till I have finished. I do not want to appear dilatory,
and I therefore have so far responded to every suggestion
that I should get certain things done in time, even if it means
working all night and everlasting thought.

After this I had an interview with Dobbs, who is going
to administer Baluchistan. I think there is much more to be
said for his scheme for Indianisation of the Services than the
officials here will admit, and I am going to take the subject
up again. I have asked the Viceroy to send home to Curzon
his letter about Persia. It is truly sad that, owing to our
desire to placate Russia — what a bad bargain we made ! —
we have alienated the Persian democrats. Dobbs told me
that nearly 70 per cent, of the Persians openly or in secret
belong to their new religion. In about the year 1857 a
young man appeared, who was crucified, shot at, and finally
killed by the Persians. One of his disciples then said that
he was God, and that the man who had been killed was a fore-
runner something like John the Baptist. He preaches a
sort of internationalism, and they are all deserting Moham-
medanism, and these are the democrats whom we are losing.
He gave me instances to show that their belief in this creed
was so great that it even conquered their rapacity, which is
one of their chief characteristics.

His idea of Indian Reform, apart from Indianisation,
which he says is what they most want, would be to try com-

DELHI II

November 27]

65

plete self-government in a small district or area, and see
whether there was an exodus from it to the rest of India. I
am afraid this is impracticable. He also tells me that he had
toyed with the idea of an extension of the Principalities and
Native States, but had had to abandon it.

Seton is down with the fever.

We go to Calcutta to-morrow, where the programme of
work is even more enormous than the half-hour interviews
and deputations which have occupied all my time here.
Chelmsford seems to be strengthening in favour of my scheme.
It is some satisfaction to me to find that, even though I regard
my scheme as much too small for the situation and many
things will have to be added to it, it looks as though the work
of my own brain at present is holding the field. I am quite
prepared to find it will go at any moment ; I am quite prepared
to discard it if I can find a better one, because I am not satisfied
with it. However, this is the basis of our discussions with
the local governments.

I fear there is no chance of my being home before the
end of March, even though I abandon my desire to go to
Mesopotamia. Of course, I will try to get home as quickly
as I can.

Meyer has come out as a confirmed opponent of my scheme.
I should have thought that this would have shaken Chelms-
ford, but all that Chelmsford says is that I must consult
Meston about the drafting, that Meyer will not put his brain
into it. *

Thursday , November 29. My first visit this morning was
from Walker, the Manchester Guardian man whom I had seen
in London, and to whom I had given addresses and introduc-
tions in India. He is an extremely nice fellow, and has
profited very much, I thought, by his visit. He had been
invited by Chelmsford to dinner last night, but had telephoned
before dinner to say that he had met with an accident and

66

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 29

could not come. On investigation, the accident proved to
be as follows. He had thought that the right clothes to
wear for dinner were a short jacket and a black tie. On
reaching Government House, he found he was mistaken.
He went back and found all his clothes had been packed and
taken to the station ; hence he was unable to meet the Viceroy,
after coming all the way from England to do so. Strange,
but there it is. This is the sort of life we lead. To-day the
Viceroy, instead of sending for him, simply said : “ I wish I
had seen him.” Walker was frightfully impressed by the seeth-
ing, boiling, political flood raging across the country. He had
seen much of the extreme men in Calcutta, where he had
haunted the Calcutta Bar Library. He said nobody believes
that we are in earnest ; nobody believes that we will do
anything. They get nothing out here from Reuter, except
some spikey attacks on Indians in the Times, or the Morning
Post, or the National Review , and they believe these things
to represent British public opinion about India. It amused
him to discover that Lord Sydenham was a great figure out
here, and that they actually attached importance to what he
said, and feared him. He said they speak amiably of me,
but feel certain that the House of Lords and the Cabinet will
never let me do anything. When the Curtis scheme appeared,
Walker asked them whether this did not argue that we were
in earnest. They said : “ No ; Curtis was one Englishman,
but not England,” and one of them significantly added : “ I
am not « sure that I want reform ; five years of repressive
government would suit me better, because then I should get
everything I wanted.” Well, there is a lot in that view, but
it hit the nail, I think, on the head when he said : “ These
men are sick and tired of being a subject race. They want
to hold up their heads like men, and walk their own streets
free and honourably, and not as the subjects of white men
animated by a keen sense of duty, but growingly inferior in
their manners and consideration for them.” Walker said

November 29] DELHI II 67

they really want no particular scheme. The head of the
revolutionary movement in Calcutta, Das, is secretly in favour
of the Curtis scheme. Mr. Walker has had a much better
reception than we have had. What they want is any scheme
that will lead in a definite and in a short time to this freedom.
He says that if in England we are governed by the Press, we
are governed much more so here, and he is horrified at the
feebleness of it. There is no good journalist in India. He
told me that Calcutta and Bengal were really the seat of all
intelligence in India. He had not been to Madras. In
Bombay there was only one man — Jinnah. At the root of
Jinnah’s activities is ambition. He believes that when Mrs.
Besant and Tilak have disappeared he will be the leader,
and he is collecting round him a group of young men, whom
he says he is keeping from revolutionary movements, and
professes a great influence over them. What astonishes
Walker is that the bureaucracy absolutely denies this whirl-
wind of political thought. He told me that he had had a
conversation with Vincent, who talked about the corruption
and graft which would result from any power being given
to these people. Walker replied that if a bureaucracy
happened to have been governing the United States of America
they would have argued quite as well that the people were
not fit for government because of these tendencies. They
worship efficiency ; they are proud of their own work, and
they will not risk it for anything.

At 10.30 we had our first deputation — the deputation of
a body called the All-India Hindu Sabha, supposed ter
represent more or less orthodox Hinduism, and designed to
be moderate. It is really the work of Lala Sukhbir Singh.
They read one of the usual addresses, explaining that they were
one of the greatest people on the face of the earth, and then
going practically for the Congress League scheme. Three
of their number had an interview with us afterwards. Two
whom I had seen before did not count, but they brought with

68 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 29

them as their leader Diwan Madhavarao, a Madrasi Brahman
of great experience, for he had been Diwan of Mysore, of
Travancore, and of Baroda, and therefore is one of the few
Indians with administrative experience. He was very voluble,
but talked sound sense. He complained, in the first place,
that we asked Indians to formulate schemes, and they were
putting forward many things that were ridiculous ; that we
ought to have formulated our schemes for criticism and not
asked them : this was the best sort of thing they could do.
But he clearly showed, although I forget his exact phrase-
ology, that he did not attach very much importance to its
workings ; he did not like it. He argued fiercely against
communal representation, and said that it has served to
accentuate and exasperate the feeling between Hinduism and
Mohammedanism. Of course that is quite true, but to
suggest that we could get rid of it now seems to me to be
impossible. We are pledged up to the hilt, and we would
have a rising of the Mohammedans if we did. He talked at
great length about the Mysore Assembly, which had a com-
pletely elected majority, but I told him it had no power of
the purse and no control over the Executive, which he agreed
with, but said that was impossible because Mysore was not
really a free country, and we could not argue from Mysore
to British India. Of course he had brought in the analogy,
not I, and ran away from it when it did not suit his purpose.
He said the Indian Civil Service were determined to keep the
power, and I assured him that was not so. I spoke to him
very earnestly. I think he knows that we mean business,
and I think he went away far happier than he came.

In the afternoon, at 2.30, I saw Patrick of the India Office,
who was let go to be a soldier, but after serving with his
regiment he finds himself as Under-Secretary to the Govern-
ment of India under Bingley in the Military Department.
It will be most useful to him when he gets back to the Military
Department of the India Office ; but at the same time it is

DELHI II

November 29]

69

a little bit thick to let a civil servant go from England and find
him a civil servant in India. He is an extremely nice boy,
very much interested in India and in reform, with some views
on the Secretariat, a part of the subject of which I am
completely ignorant.

A very curious incident occurred whilst I was talking to
Patrick. Unannounced, a carriage drove up at my tent
door, from which a man descended — an old, old man with a
long, white beard parted in the middle. He told me that he
had come from the Maharana of Udaipur, to bring to me
that old gentleman’s compliments and best wishes. He told
me how much the Maharana regretted that I could not visit
Udaipur and go shooting with him. He had shot ten tigers
during the cold weather, and only lost one, who got away.
I was fortunate to remember enough that this old man had
acted as interpreter for me when I was in Udaipur last. I
sent all sorts of sweet messages back to the Maharana, who
had sent me a present of 150 oranges, grown in the gardens
of the palaces by the water, and renowned throughout India,
he said, for their sweetness.

We left for Calcutta at 5 o’clock. I slept till dinner time,
but really my brain is getting very tired, and my temper has
almost gone. I see that the C.I.D. have got reports of how
the interviews have gone at Delhi. They allege that the
interviewers say that nothing is to be hoped for from Chelms-
ford, that he is obviously antagonistic, but they speak very
well of Roberts’s sympathetic manner. I suppose Roberts
achieved this by never questioning them about their schemes,
but he certainly has given the impression that he is frightened,
I think ; and if they only knew how, when he is confronted
with the conservative tendencies of the Indian Civil Service, it
is difficult to get him to put his name to anything progressive,
they would see, earnest and desirous of doing good that he
is, how difficult it is for him to risk anything.

In the evening at dinner we were treated to some Indian

70 AN INDIAN DIARY [November 29

food presented to Mr. Basu, including a sweet pilau of rice
and sliced fruits, which was very nice indeed ; whereby an
amusing story. It is notorious that in writing about bombs
the Bengali youth always use the word “ sweetmeats.” One
day in Madras Sankaran Nair was entertaining Hardinge to
dinner. Basu was asked to send some Bengali sweets to
grace the dinner. Basu sent a wire to Nair : “ The sweet-
meats for the Viceroy will arrive to-morrow night.” The
C.I.D. getting hold of this, of course stopped the telegram
and the parcel, and entered Basu and Nair as suspects, shadow-
ing them for the rest of the time.

Friday , November 30. I have to-day wired home for an
account of what is being done for discharged soldiers. I
am getting more and more worried by a feeling that
nothing like enough is being done here, mainly owing to
the fact that the Indians do not welcome and honour their
soldiers as we do. They really know nothing of the War.

I hear that the Madras Government has said that Indian
civilians who were members of the Anglo-Indian Association,
that is to say, the half-castes, must leave it because it has now
become a political association, because it presented me with
an address. They cannot and will not understand that
civil servants in this country are, and must be more and more,
politicians. I have told Chelmsford that he must stop this
absurdity, and that when our scheme comes out he must be
prepared to organise a great campaign on its behalf ; that
it must not go by default as other schemes have ; that he
must get an association formed and start a newspaper, and
come down into the political field and work for its success.

I have not much to say in addition to what I have said
about the train journey. I had a long talk with Maffey, and
we were very frank with one another. I told him that in
my opinion the root cause of the whole trouble was the
profound distrust, which may or may not be justified, shown

November o] DELHI II 7 1

by the civil servants of the Indian and the Indian of the civil
servant. The consequence is that in making any proposal
or in carrying out anything, the civil servant, rather than
trust to his own authority and to the righteousness of his own
cause, ties himself up and everybody else with what he calls
safeguards — rules, regulations and statutes. The Indian
then sees that he is not trusted, and uses his powers quite
irresponsibly, knowing that the Civil Service has guarded
itself by its regulations. On the other hand, the Indian,
irritated by this, demands powers over the bureaucracy which
he does not really require, simply in order to get rid of these
difficulties. I feel half inclined to suggest that we should
sweep away all regulations and statutes, or most of them,
give large elected majorities, do away with the officials on
the Legislative Councils altogether, and say : “ Now we
trust you to help the Government.” We have put them
at your mercy for legislation, and in return you must trust
them to carry out your wishes, and we shall have no
statutes as to binding resolutions or any nonsense of that
kind. This Indian problem is very much complicated by
the fact that it is atmosphere, social and political, rather than
anything definite which we have to cope with. We discussed
the absolute necessity of inaugurating some assistance for
the Government in order that its case should not continue to
go by default because of the absurd reserve of the Civil
Service. When we get our scheme published we nnyust have
an organisation to run it and to support it in every con-
ceivable way ; take the people into our confidence ; invite a
deputation on it to come over to England to help with the
passage of the Bill ; get a journalist out from England to run
a good paper for it ; collect funds for it, and so forth ; allow
the Civil Service to expound the scheme ; allow civil servants
to give lectures at public meetings on various points in the
Government policy, and so on. Maffey agreed. Maffey
also has an ingenious suggestion for announcing at once with

72

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 30

the reform scheme the appointment of fifty Indian Indian
civil servants, to show that we mean Indianisation.

Maffey told me that the question of the Congress and
Bombay was one of the most difficult he had ever had to
solve. If we had gone there, nothing that we said would have
been read, but it would have been assumed that we were
going to take their scheme. He admits that the plan of going
to Bombay is thin, but he did not know what else to do.

He agreed with me that there was no drive in the Indian
Government, and that Chelmsford’s Asquith-like method of
summing up and always reflecting the opinion of his Council
was not suitable to a Council composed like this one. They
were all very fond of him and very loyal. It certainly differs
from the time when I was here last, when all the strong men
like Craddock, Butler, Fleetwood-Wilson and Carlisle were
all quarrelling like cats. These small men stick together.
He told me as an instance that Lord Chelmsford had written
quite a good speech for his Legislative Council full of fine
language, a frank and manly expression on reforms, a state-
ment that he and his Council were responsible for the release
of Mrs. Besant, and that he would shield himself behind no
man. He showed his speech to the members of his Council
in turn, and by the time they had finished with it they had
criticised nearly the whole of it and nothing was left. Chelms-
ford meekly adopted all their suggestions. This is really a
typical instance. I told Maffey that I had heard of Bikaner
showing his speech at the Conference of Chiefs to his brother
Chiefs, and of Mrs. Besant being compelled to submit her
Congress oration to the Committee, but the idea that a
Minister’s speech should be edited by his colleagues was to
me completely novel.

Chelmsford tells me that on his Council Meyer is hostile
to my scheme ; Claude Hill can be persuaded ; Vincent and
Du Boulay prefer it to anything else ; Lowndes likes it ;
Barnes will accept it ; “ Sankaran Nair likes it,” says Chelms-

November 30] DELHI II 73

ford enviously, “ because it comes from you and not from
me.” But, of course, they do not mean the whole of my
scheme, and part of it without the rest is no use.

Roberts tells me that an All-India Mohammedan deputation
came to see me at Delhi. They had been told they must
only talk about reforms. Their address included a request
for the release of Mohamed Ali. They were told to cut
this out ; they refused and went home. Oh, if Chelmsford
had only argued with them, it is very likely he could have
pursuaded them, and now they have gone away disgruntled.
Roberts told me that two of them had been to see him. They
said they did not greatly care about the internment of
Mohamed Ali, but they were convinced that it was part and
parcel of a determination of ours to interfere with the Khalifa,
and even to propose that contemptible old man, the King of
the Hedjaz, as Khalifa. I immediately thought I would
wire to Balfour asking him to make an emphatic statement
that we had no intention of interfering, but Chelmsford
characteristically said he could not sanction such a telegram
without asking Grant. Good God ! As a matter of fact,
Bob Cecil seems to have made the statement yesterday. If
only they would advertise this throughout India, but of
course they won’t.

An amusing incident to show that the hordes of servants,
who, poor things, find that time hangs heavily on their hands,
must try and please one. I tried to go through the train to
see Mr. Basu. As I started down the corridor, servants
thronging the passage, seeing me coming, they opened the
first door, with a loud crash, that seemed handy. The result
was I interrupted poor Donoughmore’s afternoon sleep. I
explained that I did not want to see him, and that it was the
officiousness of the servants ; and went on to find that the
next door was thrown open for me, with the same result on
poor Duke. I then refused to go any further until I had
explained that I wanted to see Mr. Basu. They all agreed,

74

AN INDIAN DIARY [November 30

and assured me it was all right, and took me along two
carriages, kicking from the way the coolies who were taking
their afternoon sleep in the corridors, and then landed me
in the post-office car, and introduced me to a young Babu,
whose name they assured me was Basu, the man whom I was
looking for.

December i]

III

CALCUTTA

Saturday , December i. We arrived here this morning,
and were met at the station by various civil servants, Ronald-
shay and Gourlay. I breakfasted in my room, and wrote a
few mail letters, and arranged business. I do not think it
is possible to describe Government House, Calcutta. Built,
it is said, in imitation of Kedleston, it contains a central
block and four wings, rather like a Maltese cross. No wing
communicates with any other. The ground floor, which is
under an enormous flight of steps, is exactly like a railway
terminus. Above this floor comes the dining-room floor,
separated from a small drawing-room, with a silver throne, by
a huge gloomy parade, as it were, paved with grey marble and
pillared. Above this again, and occupying the space occupied
by this gloomy, lofty parade ground, the dining-room and the
drawing-room, is a huge ballroom. The floor of the wing
giving off from this is occupied by me, Parsons and Franey.
The floor of the wing opposite is occupied by Chelmsford and
his staff.

I went to see Chelmsford this morning and told him of
the arrangements I had made, which met with his approval.

Ronaldshay then came and talked to me. We found
ourselves much in agreement about the fact that it is British
ascendancy and subject race feeling which is at the bottom
of everything. He is fast becoming a Curtisite.

After lunch, Chelmsford and I interviewed two civil servants,
a man named Monahan and another named Stevenson-
Moore.

After that we played tennis — grass courts — a very different
game from what we had been playing at Delhi ; but whether

75 '

7 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [December i

it was because of the sun, or whether it was because of the
railway train, I collapsed in the middle. I went upstairs, had
a bath, and immediately afterwards had my first introduction
to the great Curtis. We spent an hour together. At last
here was a person unprejudiced, keenly interested, properly
equipped. I spoke to him with complete frankness, and
although, of course, he prefers his scheme, he is quite prepared
to see mine adopted. I am bound to say that he convinced
me that an official majority is a thing which cannot be tolerated.

I wish he sometimes made a joke ; I wish he sometimes viewed
things from some other attitude than that of Curtis, the empire-
builder.

A new subject that he raised with me was the English Press
in India, and its habit of vilifying the Indians. He wants
them proceeded against. It was a satisfactory talk. He did
not convince me that you could practically sub-divide the
Provinces now, but of course our two schemes are so similar
that it really does not matter.

Next I had a talk with Sinha, who is really on the whole the
greatest gentleman and the most loyal and attractive Indian 1
have known. It was a long and very friendly talk. He tells
me that the Bengal request for Standing Committees plus
binding authority for those Committees on some subjects
in not more than three years’ time was a compromise made
between him and Ronaldshay to please Wheeler. 1 Wheeler
seems very reactionary. He tells me that Nair tells him that
the Government of India will do nothing. I think Nair is
wrong, and I told Sinha not to lose hope. I outlined my
scheme to Sinha, and told him it was coming before the
Government of Bengal. He said that he thought the scheme
would meet their requirements. He warned me that the
new responsible Governments would probably make a mess
of many of the things entrusted to them, but however in-
efficient they were, he wanted them to try. He hoped it
was not too late, although things in India were very, very

1 Sir Henry Wheeler, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. (Member, Bengal Executive Council).

CALCUTTA

77

December i]

serious and growing more serious every day. I wish I could
get the damned bureaucracy to realise this, but we are literally
sitting on an earthquake.

I then felt too tired to do any more ; I send a note to ask
for dinner upstairs, and went to bed.

Sunday , December 2. I started with Holland-Hibbert at
8 o’clock this morning to get a day in the country, away from
all worry, and a shoot. We started two cars together, Maffey
and Verney being in the other one, along the same road, and
we dropped them at the twenty-eighth milestone from Calcutta,
where their host was to meet them for a quiet shoot. We
went on to the forty-second milestone, where our host was to
meet us. There seems to be a fatality about my shooting
with Dods of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. He has
the reputation of being the biggest snipe shooter in the world,
and he has two records which, I think, are not equalled by
any other gun to his name, namely, 1 3 1 J couple in a day, and
101 snipe to 17,0 cartridges. We had bet with Maffey that
we would get 42 snipe to every 28 they got, based on the
mileage from Calcutta. We had timed our arrival beauti-
fully, for we were due at 10, and we got to a pontoon bridge
six miles from our destination at a quarter to ten, to find that
they were moving the pontoon bridge on that morning of all
others, and we could not get across it till 12. I noticed with
interest that the whole of the arrangements of removing,
re-mooring, repairing the bridge were in the hands of Bengalis,
apparently labourers, without a foreman or anything, and they
knew what they were doing, although possibly they worked
slowly, fetching one plank at a time. Everybody seemed able
to swim. We met an old, old Bengali coming up stream in
a boat. He spoke English, and told me he was going to
inspect some fisheries. He informed me that Mr. Montagu
and the Viceroy were coming to shoot there next Sunday ;
that Mr. Montagu was a keen hunter and had hunted with

78 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 2

Babu Mukerjee last time he was in India, and had written
to him to come again. Dods told me that I should not find
him what he was five years ago ; that Mukerjee had gone all
to pieces, and that the shooting is bad. I finally joined my
nice little host at 12 ; went off two miles on an elephant, and
started shooting with him at one. Unfortunately, we went
to the most distant and the smallest place first. In expectation
of my arriving at 10, the shikaris had been sent off at half-past
9 and could not be recalled. It would have been full of
snipe at that time of the day, but the villagers were all over the
place when we got there. There were rice fields on the edge
of the most beautiful lake in the world ; the vegetation and
the palm trees were lovely. We saw three snakes — one
python, one small, harmless snake, and, I think, a cobra.
Holland-Hibbert’s party also saw a cobra and a fish-hawk
going away with a snake. There were no jack snipe about ;
they had not arrived yet. The pin-tail snipe was not in yet.
The snipe we shot was the common English snipe. I do
not think we missed more than three all day, but we only got
ten couple. Holland-Hibbert and Dods’s cousin got nine
couple. I have not yet heard what Maffey got. We raced
home to Dods’s tent as fast as the elephant could carry us.
Of course, if I could have ridden a horse we should have got
much more ; the elephant is so slow. Dods is now on the
Committee of the Zoo, and spends most of his spare time in
getting birds caught for the Zoo. He is a most interesting
person,’ and we had many talks on ornithology, and a few
words on the isolation of the Government of India. Dods has
incited me to go and shoot flying foxes at the Zoo before
breakfast on Tuesday morning, a novel experience. Appar-
ently the flying foxes are there in such numbers that they are
spoiling the trees.

We reached home at 8 o’clock, speculating whether we
should be in time for dinner, to find that the doctor, alarmed
at my escapade of yesterday, had ordered dinner for me in my

CALCUTTA

December 2]

79

room, with a bottle of champagne. After dinner I went to
bed.

Monday , December 3. I suppose I must keep up this
wretched practice, so boring to me, and so difficult to discharge
efficiently, of recording my proceedings. I do not think
I give a thought, waking, and, I fear, sometimes sleeping, to
anything but Indian reforms, except for the hour a day which
I try to keep for exercise. I read my papers before breakfast,
and begin the serried series of deputations and memoranda,
copies of which for yesterday and to-day are appended to
these notes.

To-day began with four formal deputations. Here it is
not necessary to go to a tent. We have a large room with
two thrones on the first floor, the drawing-room at nighttime,
and certainly under Gourlay’s management these formal
deputations go very quickly.

One of these deputations was from the Anglo-Indian
Association, which really repeated very much the same tale
as we had heard from the All-India Association, this being
the Bengal branch.

The other three were interesting. One was from the
Bengal Chamber of Commerce, and contained the leaders of
the great movement which so forcibly protested against my
visit, headed by Sir Hugh Bray, all English ; and another
was the Calcutta Trades Association of retail traders, equally
English and even more prejudiced. Sandwiched between
them came the British Indian Association, a more or less
conservative body, headed by the Maharajadhiraja Bahadur of
Burdwan, the best type of conservative Indian.

After the deputations we had a joint interview with five
representatives of the British Indian Association. Burdwan
spoke very well, and came out of cross-examination very well.
He frankly confessed to differing from his Committee on
the separation of the Judicial from the Executive, merely

80 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 3

because he thought it would weaken the hands of the British
Executive, for he has a fierce love of the British connection —
not a passive acquiescence, but a firm belief in it. He it was
that was called “ a pot-bellied swashbuckler ” by Keir Hardie,
and retaliated with the far better abuse of calling Keir Hardie
“ a white surdar coolie.” He is a large and very rich
Zemindar, and wishes to be made an independent Chief.
He has great courage.

After they had gone came the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce. Their address had been far more reasonable
than their public utterances would have led one to expect.
They came in, I was told afterwards, very nervous, and
Chelmsford stood up to them nobly, and therefore I was
encouraged to enter into controversy with them ; warned
them of the trouble they had been laying up for themselves
by taking no part in politics ; assured them that it would
be necessary for them to do so in future, and told them that
they must assert their position and must rest their claim to
protection on the vindication of their case to the Indian
people rather than for ever on the Government of India,
which they abused. Chelmsford told them that he was glad
to have been instrumental in bringing them into political
life. We asked them of what they were really afraid, and
why they resented my visit : explained to them that no altera-
tions were to be attempted until after the War, but that we
were preparing for alterations, just as we were doing in Ireland
and in reconstruction generally ; asked them how they dared
assert that they were not going to be consulted about our
plans when they had read the announcement of August 20.
They told us that they could not control the Press, and were
very annoyed at being saddled with the responsibility for it.
Considering that the Press subsists on their advertisements,
and that the Editor of the Englishman is a member of their
Association, this was a bit thick. One of them, the most
reasonable, Ironside, who accepted the Curtis scheme, told

CALCUTTA

December 3]

81

me that their real indignation was based on the fact that when
he was in England in October of last year Islington had told
him that an official Committee sitting in London had hammered
out a scheme, which was then cut and dried and ready
to present to Parliament ; that he had asked whether the
Bengal Chamber of Commerce would be heard, and was
told that it was now too late. I asked them whether they
really believed that this could be true, and that Chelmsford
and I were really going through a solemn farce, having a
scheme all the time in our pockets. They said they accepted
my assurance. I am communicating with Islington, and shall
see these gentlemen, or some of them, again on Friday.

Then we had a deputation of the Anglo-Indian Association,
with whom we did not do much business ; and then I left to
drive through Calcutta to a lunch with Basu at his own home.

The whole of our party went. Gourlay, a man much loved
by the Indians and private secretary to Ronaldshay, also to
Carmichael, the best type of Indian civil servant, and Maffey,
Chelmsford’s private secretary, were the only others.

We lunched in an enormous shamiana, of great heat, for
there was only one thickness of canvas, and that very thin,
between us and the sun. I sat between our host, who is
still increasingly optimistic, and Burdwan. I must say that
if you take the large assembly of Indians, something over 100
who sat down to lunch, together with the Indians who were too
orthodox to eat with us, but whom I saw afterwards in the
drawing-room, it was a wonderfully representative "crowd.
Extremists, Conservatives, Mohammedans, Hindus, revolu-
tionaries, were all there. Old Mati Lai Ghosh, Editor of
the Amritsa Bazar Patrika , the Maharaja of Dharbunga, the
Maharaja of Burdwan, Sinha, Gupta, Bannerjea, Rajendra
Mukerji, Sarbadhakari, Mehta, Das, were some of the more
prominent figures, and my old Cambridge friend, Prosanto
K. Sen. Any number of snapshots were taken and then a
group ; and after lunch a young woman played and sang

82 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 3

that harmless, wailing song, “ Bande Mataram ” (“ Hail to
the Motherland ”), prescribed once as illegal, and therefore
made enormously popular with the Indians. Basu turned
to me and said : “ We always stand up when this song is
sung ; do you mind ? ” Of course I said “ No,” and we all
stood up. I do not think Maffey will ever forget it.

I came home at 3, after a lunch warranted to kill anybody
who eat it. Cooked on the European principle, the menu
would have to be seen to be believed. Dish followed dish ;
meat followed meat ; sweet followed sweet. Well, well,
abstinence secured my survival.

Then the Calcutta Trades Association met us. We talked
to them again on the necessity of Englishmen joining in
political life, but we did not do much.

A game of lawn tennis, and then Burdwan came for a private
interview, with a memorandum which he had furnished. He
is the first man who has suggested a Royal Viceroy, in which
I thoroughly believe, and a Second Chamber, in which I
thoroughly believe. Altogether it was a very Montagu-like
suggestion.

And, finally, an enormous dinner party. Sixty-one people
sat down to dinner. We all assembled in a small room first,
and had to go through the pantomime of presentation, first to
Ronaldshay and Lady Ronaldshay, and then to His Excellency
and Lady Chelmsford. We filed in to dinner. I sat between
Lady Ronaldshay and Lady Bray, the wife of Sir Hugh Bray.

I talked to her a little. She is a plucky woman and spent the
summer in Calcutta (Sir Hugh Bray is a cousin of my old
friend, Edmund Bray, now in Mesopotamia), and we knew
many friends and places in common.

Tuesday, December 4. This morning I got up early and
went to the Zoo, and shot away as many cartridges as I liked
at those huge bats, the flying foxes, night herons, cormorants
and crows that were disfiguring the Zoo. I sat on a bridge

Bhupcndranath Basu Lunclieon Menu ehez Bas

Zg 9%V(} oovf ojr

Caviare Frappe
Thon des Castronomes
Olives

CALCUTTA

December 4]

83

across an enormous piece of water, and the things flew along
at varying paces. It was quite good shooting. Meanwhile,
the animals did not seem to care in the least, some of the big
storks immediately going to collect the wounded birds. A
pair of tapirs swam about in the water and dived quite un-
concerned.

I came home to breakfast, and began at 10 with four
deputations, the Central National Mohammedan Association,
a conservative body which had little to say ; the Bengal
National Chamber of Commerce, an Indian affair headed by
Burdwan; an Indian Association got up by Bannerjea ; and a
Marwari Association of native bankers or moneylenders ;
and then began interviews.

The first was with the Bengal National Chamber of Com-
merce, headed by a man called Raja Hrishikesh Saha, whom
we ragged properly for continually subscribing, on various
deputations, to views in which he did not believe. He had a
private interview afterwards, when we continued the ragging,
and listened to him droning away on local self-government,
on which he was quite interesting.

Then came five members of the Indian Association, which
amused us very much, because all five seemed to differ, old
Bannerjea, the most vocal, the most loquacious, always flying
off into perorations and fine sentences. More particularly
Dr. Sarkar and a Mr. Sen were extremely extreme, and I think
will be satisfied with nothing we can do, but would be satisfied
with what I would do if I had my own way. •

Followed lunch, at which I sat between Lady Chelmsford
and Holland-Hibbert ; and then an interview with a man
called Nath Ray, who had nothing much to say ; old Sarbad-
hakari, who was more interested in Calcutta University than
anything else, and who is a very cautious moderate ; and
then R. D. Mehta, an old Parsi, who has sent in an extra-
ordinarily good memorandum on Montagu lines, but who
came out badly in cross-examination.

84 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 4

Chelmsford is hardening again, and I am getting more
extreme. I think I must give him a fillip, and so I am sending
him a few memoranda I have circulated to my colleagues.
I cannot get these people to trust any Indians really. I will
not be content with anything short of provincial autonomy
and complete control of all services by a responsible govern-
ment unless they will accept my scheme of Enabling Bills and
Statutory Enquiries.

I had a few minutes with Sir William Duke. He told me
that he had seen a policeman, Clarke, of Calcutta, whom I
am going to see if I can only find time to see him and strength
to listen to what he says, who believes that you ought to hand
over the police to something approximating to British Watch
Committees. I told Duke how I was moving forward. I
rather think, as I write now, that I am quite prepared to give
full responsible government, subject to very little fundamental
legislation in the Provinces. I must see Curtis again before
I leave, God knows when, but I think on “ Our Day,” but
I have determined not to go to the races.

Then we had a long interview with Moti Lai Ghose, the
charming old Editor of the Armitsa Bazar Patrika. He is a
fine old boy, gentle in his manner, with a strong sense of
humour, a devout Brahman, a fierce politician, thoroughly
bitter, with a profound disbelief in public of our good inten-
tions, though accepting them in private. He reminded me
that five years ago he had told me that our Indian Empire
was slipping away from us. He spoke fiercely of malaria,
and expressed the belief that it is only the people themselves
that can prevent the appalling death-rate, the frightful enlarged
spleen condition, the decimation of the Bengal villages.
Moti Lai Ghose has abandoned the Congress League scheme,
and goes for complete responsible government in the
Provinces, with the Congress League scheme for the Govern-
ment of India. He is in a great hurry, and I begged him
to be a little more patient — ten years was a long stretch

December 4] CALCUTTA 85

in the life of a man, but very little in the life of a
country.

Then followed one of the most appalling dinner parties I
have ever been at in my life — sixty people, all men, Indians
and English. Owing to the fact that one or two of the
guests did not turn up, the seats were far enough apart almost
to allow a lady to sit between each of us, if the ladies had been
there. Conversation was, therefore, very difficult. I had
sent Chelmsford my notes to my colleagues on the official
majority question just before dinner. He told me that he
did not sympathise with me at all, and that he wanted his
official majority ; that as I admitted it was only a matter of
method, he hoped we would not quarrel about that ; we would
choose something to quarrel about of real substance. I said
very little, shortly, that if he preferred a dishonest method, as
it came to the same thing, and if we agreed about everything
else, morality would not impress me. He then said that his
inclination was to leave the Government of India alone, as we
had enough to do in other branches. I said then I was
afraid we should quarrel, because I should never consent to
that, and the matter dropped. He is obviously hardening a
lot and showing his teeth. Well, I shall show mine. The
sooner we come to grips the better. But as every day goes
by I am more inclined to accept complete responsible
government for the Provinces.

After dinner we were joined by a few of the old. stagers,
like Dharbunga, who did not eat with us, and we sat talking
till 11.

The two Tagore painters were there. They told me that
they are embarking on larger canvases now, which are really
new to India, except for frescoes. They are nice, interesting
people, but I was not allowed to speak to them long before
they were snatched away.

Wednesday , December 5. To-day we have had the usual

86 AN INDIAN DIARY [Decembers

weary round — deputations from various Moslem bodies this
morning, the Moslem Association, the Moslem League, and
so on, and this afternoon we have had two deputations from
Assam.

The Moslem Association pretends to be more conservative
than the Moslem League, but submitted an appendix to
its suggestions, which was really just as extreme. They were
very nice people, and explained that we were to take no notice
of the appendix, which really did not represent their views.

The Moslem League was very, very vehement, and I had
a long and interesting argument — because he was a very
intelligent man — with one of their members, Aminur Rahman,
who is certainly very sincere, and does not see any of the
difficulties of the Congress Moslem League scheme. He
certainly helped me to come nearer to responsible government.

Thursday , December 6. I spent the morning with the
Burmans, nice, simple-minded people, with beautiful clothes.
Complete loyalty ; no sign of political unrest. They wanted
nothing but the spread of education and separation from India,
largely because they were afraid of Indian immigration and
Indian domination under a Home Rule scheme. Strangely
enough, they are all dependent on Indian coolies for the
cultivation and harvesting of their rice, the Indians coming
into their Provinces for harvesting, much as Irishmen do at
home. ».They have one representative on the Government of
India Council, who is quite useless and out of place ; in fact,
there is no community between the two countries. On the
other hand, India must naturally protect its frontiers, and
railway communication between the two countries must be
assisted by India.

An influential-sounding deputation, headed by an Indian
called Mehta, was to have come on behalf of the Burma
Provincial Congress Committee, to ask for the Congress
scheme. He himself admitted, although he brought 5,000

December 6] CALCUTTA 87

signatures to the petition, that it was only for India he wanted
it, and not for Burma.

Then I had an interview with a very intelligent Indian
Civil Service man named Keith, who is Revenue Secretary
in Burma. He explained much of the reasons why the
Burmese wanted separation from India ; said that they were
quite self-supporting, but had not enough money for revenue ;
their settlement was atrociously bad ; and gave many instances
of Government of India interference with their affairs and
refusal of their demands. The Legislative Council of Burma
contained only two elected members, who were both
Europeans. The Government of Burma had expressed an
opposition to panchayets. One of the deputations objected
to this, and Keith objected that they were willing to reconsider
it. I asked Keith, a brilliant idea having struck me, whether
it would not be a good opportunity of cutting away from the
Morley-Minto Reforms altogether, and I put before him,
on the spur of the moment, this scheme : Cut Burma adrift
from India ; re-name the Viceroy the Governor-General of
India and Burma ; take the Burmese representatives from the
Indian Legislative Council ; give Burma the whole of its
own revenues, minus a contribution for Imperial defence,
and then give it a complete Curtis constitution — Punchiats,
District Boards, State Councils, at present mainly, if not
entirely, nominated, with a magnum concilium instead of a
Legislative Council. He promised to go away and^discuss
this with his Government.

I lunched with Sinha, and I am bound to say it was one of
the pleasantest parties I have seen. Here was the modern
Bengali at his best — Gupta, Sinha, Mukerji, Bose, Lady
Sinha, Lady Mukerji, Lady Bose, and two pretty, attractive
young daughters of Sinha’s and their husbands. Lady
Sinha is very nice, but nearly blind. It was a friendly, merry
party, which I was torn away from to go back to two inter-
views. The first was with Rai Jadu Nath Mazumdar, who

88 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 6

asked for votes for women, and had a complete scheme with
a second chamber at the top ; and he was followed by a man
called Manilal Singh Roy, who was particularly interesting
on village unions and local government. He had much
experience of these matters, and rules the district with a rod
of iron.

Then followed a garden party of 2,000 people in the garden
here, where I spent my whole time shaking hands feverishly.
I had a word with Cooch Behar.

Then followed a long interview with Mukerji, who is
an extraordinarily nice fellow, full of the social grievance ; of
the farce of the existing Legislative Councils ; who liked my
plan very much indeed, and suggested what seems to me a
good idea — before I leave India a final conference of repre-
sentative Indians at Delhi to discuss matters, say five from
each Province. I think that would be a good plan.

I dined quietly with Marris at the Bengal Club. He is a
very nice fellow, and I growled and grumbled and explained
the difficulties of the plan which I thought we had come to.
He expressed the view that the Indian civil servants were
very sorry that their day was done ; recognised that it was
inevitable, and were willing to go ahead. He said the
Government of India was not as bad as I thought it was, that
Meyer was the weak spot. Cleveland 1 was dining at another
table, and we had a bit of a talk after dinner. He is full of joy
at his own skill, both with criminals and also with crocodiles,
of which he has got sixty in the last few weeks. He is very
proud of the C.I.D., and absolutely ignores the political
difficulties which result from it.

Friday , December 7. In the morning I went to the Zoo
before breakfast. The gardens are beautiful ; the birds are
good ; the collection of Indian snakes is very good ; and the
way in which the barefooted but nimble keeper walked in
among the poisonous snakes was very exciting.

1 Sir C. R. Cleveland, K.C.I.E., K.B.E. (Director, Criminal Intelligence, India)

CALCUTTA

December 7]

89

After breakfast we had, first of all, three deputations, a
formal one from the European Association, Curtis’s organisa-
tion, and the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. These
were purely formal. Afterwards I had an interview with the
Hill men. This was interesting. They put a scarf over
your hand before they shake hands with you. This is the
only “ swag ” I have got recently, save a history of the Karens
given me by the Burmans. They only wanted to be left
alone and to be separated from India in case it got Home
Rule. They were very nice people from the Hills, mainly
Mongolians.

By the by, I must record an amusing mistake by the Viceroy
when he was dealing with the Buddhists, as he thought, of
one of the Burman deputations, who asked for compulsory
education. He began to expatiate upon the virtues of the
schools he had seen, when one of the deputation said, in a
very quiet voice : “I beg your pardon, my lord, we are
Christians.”

They were followed by an interview with the Curtis deputa-
tion. As these people have got really the only workable
scheme yet evolved, they were very interesting, and I wish I
could have had longer with them. What interested me was
that both Colonel Pugh and P.C. Mitter, who spoke on their
behalf, repudiated the sub-division of Provinces and wished
the State Council area to be equal to that of the Provincial
area, so that the Curtis scheme has now become my^scheme.
Hurrah ! This is progress, and I am not in the least alarmed
that despite the independent and spontaneous development
of my scheme before I had seen Curtis or any of them it will
lose me the pride of authorship.

Next we had the European Association, representing the
European community, one of whom was the Editor of the
Englishman. They had very poisonous references in their
memorandum to the inconvenience of my visit, but I chaffed
them unmercifully, argued with them, congratulated them

90 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 7

upon their entry into politics, said I was glad I had achieved
this, read them extracts from their own newspapers and
stigmatised them as untruths. Altogether it was very
successful and did a lot of good.

They were followed by the old father of Burdwan, who had
very little to say. He is a Conservative of the old school,
a nice old fellow. He wished for the development of local
government, and said that panchayets never had more power
in his district. Out of his conversation I learned what I
ought to have known before, that despite the fact that salt
is a monopoly of the Government of India, they had never
developed their supplies and were still importing salt. Con-
sequently there had been a great rise in its price. Oh, how
we have misused our opportunities by sloth.

After lunch, old Gooroodas Bannerjea, the old retired judge,
who had very little to say, came to see us ; and then Ashutosh
Mukharji, who has been put upon the University Commission.
He is a very clever fellow, of course, and everybody anticipates
that his cleverness will succeed in making the Commission
nugatory. Old Rajendra Mukerji last night said that
Ashutosh only cared for arts, and the numbers of B.A.s and
the endowment of research ; and all the other people would
listen to him, although they believed they would not. He
talked about the University Commission, and explained how
careful he was to let the Commission see everything, so that
he could^not be accused of guiding them. He spoke strongly
against my scheme and the Curtis scheme, because, he said,
you could not possibly separate departments. He had nothing
to suggest in answer. Of course, he is right that there is
room for friction in every plan, except complete responsible
government.

I spent the afternoon going through the draft of the letter
to local governments with Duke and Seton. We have added a
paragraph about the Government of India. I have renewed
my protest against this letter going as a formal document

CALCUTTA

December 7]

9i

with a view to publication. The Cabinet told us that our
conversations were to be informal. I do not believe the
Government of India has any locus standi at the present
moment. By making it a formal document, you run the
risk of making everything formal. These Indian officials do
not understand informality, with the necessary result that we
shall have to continue to draft answers, rejoinders as safe-
guards for our own position, e.g. we must answer Meyer on
Brunyate.

After that I had a talk with C. B. Das, an extremist, but a
most sensible fellow. Chelmsford, Curtis and I have,
between us, absolutely blown the Congress Moslem scheme
out of the water and the intelligent people are all discarding it.
They all realise you cannot make an Executive responsible to
a legislature that they cannot control. For that reason they
want to leave the Government of India responsible at present,
but they are demanding, as Moti Lai Ghose did, complete
responsibility at once for local governments. Das argued
this very strongly. He originally was a great advocate of the
Curtis scheme ; now absolutely repudiates it. He is certain
there will be no popular enthusiasm ; he is certain that it
cannot work ; he is certain that the Indian civil servants would
have it in their power to prevent it working, and mean to do
it. It is really completely a question of confidence. I
argued with him ; I implored him ; I saw him privately, and
he added : “ Well, give us Standing Committees, a new
electorate, decent Legislative Councils, and no power for
five years, promising us it all in five years in your Act of
Parliament. I would rather have this than steps that I know
will not work. The half-way house is no good ; there is no
intermediate possible between responsible government and
complete irresponsibility.”

He attracted me enormously, but his distrust is based on
the police and the way in which the C.I.D. is used. He
told me of the prohibition of English histories, of the way

92 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 7

that everybody is trying to get confessions from the
internees, and so on.

Afterwards Hornell 1 came. He has agreed to stay on five
years more, but he is deeply, deeply, deeply depressed. He
also says that Ashutosh will wangle the University Com-
mission, and that education in Bengal is a farce, that there is
no drive anywhere in any Government — red tape, regulations,
prevent any development.

Saturday , December 8. This morning the Bengal Land-
holders’ Association came. They asked for a Second Chamber
for the Government of India ; they want complete responsible
government in local bodies. Fazl-ul-huq came to this
deputation. He prefers the All-India Moslem scheme.
Girija Nath Ray Bahadur was their leader. He assured me
that the Curtis or my scheme would not work, and so on ;
also of his distrust of the Civil Service and the police.

Then old Gupta came along, a keen believer in the Curtis
scheme ; does not believe in any of the bogies ; thinks that
immediate responsible government in the Provinces is quite
impossible.

After lunch I went with Gourlay to see the three brothers
Tagore and their pictures. Goganindra has gone in for
caricatures h la Max Beerbohm. They are all under Japanese
influence. Some of their paintings were lovely. One of
their pupils, Bose, has done exceptionally brilliant work.
They have a beautiful collection of old pictures, too.
Raobindra, the poet, has come out as a politician because of
the horrors of the internees.

The Council meeting, which was to consider the draft
letter to local governments, sat from half-past two, and at
6.45, when the Bishop of Calcutta and the other missionaries
came to see me, I had to receive them alone because the Viceroy
was still in Council. The Bishop harangued me about the
necessity for progress and going slow. He smiles com-

1 W. W. Hornell, C.I.E. (Director, Public Instruction, Bengal).

CALCUTTA

93

December 8]

placently at everything, and says that nothing will work.
Holland would hand over the police to the Curtis Govern-
ments, keeping education as a reserved subject, because he
is afraid that they will never educate the oppressed classes.

When I had finished with these, I was suddenly startled
by being told that the Viceroy wanted to see me. He told
me that he had got everything through Council except that
they would not have the paragraph about the reform of the
Government of India, but had agreed that he should write
that part as a private letter, which I should draft. I told
him that this was another argument in support of my case
that the document ought not to have been one from the
Government of India at all, that it was a breach of faith with
me, and that the Government of India had better make up
their minds once and for all that there were only three courses
open to them : either to agree to reform the Government of
India ; to refuse to reform the Government of India, and so
to differ from me ; or to convert me, because, as at present
advised, I would not go home without a scheme for reforming
the Government of India, which I believed was indefensible
in its present form. Chelmsford immediately said that they
were by no means unwilling to consider it, but they had not
considered it yet, and would not commit themselves to
mentioning in a document from that august body a scheme
affecting their own organisation which they had never pomp-
ously considered. Well, well, he kept in the last paragraph
which promises a further address on the subject, and* I have
drafted him a good letter to the heads of Governments.

By the by, for the last two days, in accordance with con-
formed plan, I have been receiving telegrams asking me to
“ soothe afflicted hearts ” and let loose Mohamed Ali. They
number now well over two thousand. It must be good for
the revenues of India 1

Then to the Bengal Club, where I dined as the guest of
Sir Hugh Bray. We had quite a merry dinner party. I

94

AN INDIAN DIARY [Decembers

sat between Bray and a fellow named Outram, and after
dinner sought refuge from the ordinary ordeal of presentation
in a game of bridge, in which I succeeded in taking out of
Donoughmore 70 rupees. Bless him, I wish it had been
from the Chamber of Commerce rather than from a member
of my own party. Most of the rest of the party, with
the exception of the austere Roberts, sat down to poker.
Thousands of rupees changed hands, and they played a bold
game, betting heavily on nothing. After all, I think the
party was a success, and I came home and went to bed.

Sunday , December 9. On Sunday morning I started off
to shoot, going to Habra in a motor car with Finch-Knightley. 1
When we got to Habra we were met by a policeman named
Shaw, who had been sent out from Calcutta to see that I
came to no harm. He walked in the boiling sun with us all
day ; he had no gun or interest in the piece. Frank Carter,
the boxwallah, was in charge of the business. He is a very
nice fellow, one of the nicest men I have met out here, who is
easily moved to guffaws of laughter. We motored some
five miles more, where we were met by Babu Mukerjee, the
large landowner on whose estate we were to shoot. He is
the man whom I shot with five years ago. He has got much
older since then and seems to have been very ill ; he cannot do
much walking. He had a son-in-law with him and three
elephants : the son-in-law is rather like an elephant. We
got on*to the elephants and went two miles across country,
through tobacco and rice fields, until we got to a river where
Mukerjee had his tent. He told me that he had written to
me when he heard I was coming to India, to ask me to shoot
with him. I was much touched by this. When we got
across the river we began to shoot. Then two more miles
on the elephants, and more shooting. Total bag for the
day, i8£ couple — very pleasing. My cartridge average
came out to 9! couple with 32 cartridges, and I was quite
1 A.D.C. to Lord Ronaldshay.

CALCUTTA

95

December 9]

pleased. I also shot a green fruit-eating pigeon and a hare.
Mukerjee has turned out to be a very good big game shot.
He goes every year to Assam, and has got 80 tigers to his own
gun in his lifetime. He was surrounded by the usual swarm
of nephews and brothers-in-law, and there were hordes of
naked villagers living on air and refusing food. Malaria
all over the place ; poverty horrible. We said good-bye to
these people, and it was significant that although all of us,
including Carter, carefully shook hands with everybody that
looked like a relative of Mukerjee’s, the policeman only shook
hands with Mukerjee himself, and that very grudgingly, and
disregarded all the other proferred hands.

Then home. Out to dinner at the Calcutta Club with
Gupta. 1 Enormous horde of Indians, all very cordial in
their reception. I sat between Gupta and the Maharaja of
Cooch Behar. Gupta told me a new story of discourtesy.
His two young children, with their ayah, had been turned
out of a first-class carriage by an Englishwoman, who would
not ride with them. Of course, it was an awful nuisance for
her to have his children in her carriage, but in England we
have to grin and bear the sight of brats.

"Monday , December 10. I got up early and revised the draft
of the private letter to heads of Government on the Second
Chamber. I told the Viceroy also about a conversation I
had had with Frank Carter about the Boy Scouts. Here,
again, with our customary folly in these days, we art laying
up trouble for ourselves. The Baden-Powell organisation
absolutely refuses to have Indians in it. The Indians are
demanding Boy Scouts because of their new military desires
and ambitions. It is obviously impossible to refuse them, so
we have to recognise a separate organisation. At the moment
when we are complaining of the divorce between the two
races ; at the moment when we have a chance, by proper
organisation, to keep the future generations together, we are
1 Sir Krishna Gupta, K.C.S.I.

g 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [ December io

making it impossible. By these absurd segregations we are
losing the chance of bringing the boys together.

I then went off to see Ganeshi Lall’s shop with Balfour. 1
His collection of Jaipur and Lucknow enamel, his beautiful
Indian pictures, his glorious jewels, his marvellous old
embroideries and fabrics simply made my mouth water more
than I can say. However, I knew it was no use buying stuff
that you could not use except under glass, and I contented
myself with buying some stuff for dresses — the best of his
pieces were beyond my means — and a little piece of Jaipur
enamel. I could have spent three years’ income in that shop
without getting half what I wanted.

Then home to my first deputation, the association to safe-
guard Moslem interests. Nothing particular about this.

Then after lunch great fun. Mr. Jones, a Welsh radical
who now edits the Statesman , came along. I began, very
mildly, asking for his political views, and then read him
extracts from his own paper. “ What are the principles on
which journalists act in India ? ” I said. “ Do you ever
verify your facts ? Is it one of your traditions that it does
not matter whether a thing is true or not so long as it gives
you a text for a leader ? ” A dirty pocket handkerchief came
out of his pocket, and he mopped his brow, and said : “ I
should like you to be more explicit.” I said : “ You tell me
in this article that I quote of October 17 that I ordered the
release of Mrs. Besant. Why did you say that ? Had you
any papers to prove it ? Who told you that I had ordered the
release of Mrs. Besant ? Why did not you believe what I
and the Viceroy had said ? ” “ That was my inference.”

“ Have you ever corrected it, knowing it was not true ? ”
The dirty handkerchief came out again. Next statement.
“You say here that I had persuaded Lloyd George that it
was necessary to do something in India, and that the desire
for reform came from me. Have you read His Excellency’s
speech in the Legislative Council ? Do you know that he

1 A.D.C. to Lord Ronaldshay;

December io] CALCUTTA 97

invited Austen Chamberlain here ? Do you know that
he sent a despatch home in November, 1916 ? Why do
you make these statements which are not true ? Do not
you realise that Indian journalists copy the lead of British
journalists ? Have you no idea of editorial responsibility ? ”
Nothing but muttering and murmuring and handkerchief.

Then I went to Burdwan’s garden party, which was much
like other Indian garden parties, except that there was a man
who shot at strings of suspended apples with a bow and arrow
and succeeded in breaking the string every time, blindfold
or seeing ; an old boy who split beans on a small child’s nose
with a large and sharp sword ; a party that danced in a fire ;
a vanishing lady, and so forth ; ending with the most appalling
comic sketch by two third-rate music hall artistes, one of whom
impersonated Charlie Chaplin. The whole entertainment,
or part of it, at any rate, was a commentary upon some aspects
of British rule in India. Here was the representative of the
King and all the society of Calcutta looking at a thing that
would not have been tolerated on the pier at Brighton. Well,
we amuse them with conjurers and third-rate performers,
and they retaliate in all solemnity by amusing us with the same
thing, and it is polite for the Viceroy to clap heartily. What
must they think of us in their minds ?

I drove back with Chelmsford and had a row with him
about the Boy Scouts. He said he could not interfere ;
the Government had washed their hands of the whole matter ;
it was the Boy Scouts organisation itself that would not allow
it. I said that was not the case, that both Carter and the
Commissioner, Pickford, whom I had been talking to to-day,
wanted Indians in, and said it was a great mistake, and that
the Baden-Powell organisation in England would not let them.
I told Chelmsford that I believed it was not a case in which
the Government could wash its hands of the whole matter,
that we should regret it in twenty years’ time, and that he
certainly ought to take steps at once to bring about this reform.

H

98 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 10

The letter to local governments has gone.

We had this evening a deputation from the Loyalists’
League, Monghyr. It was a small thing, arranged at the
last moment, in order to present an address to me, and it is
the first league I have seen whose object it is to preach the
Government cause and defend it against anarchists and
seditionists. I wish there were more like it. It is a
model of what Indian associations ought to be.

I went down to dinner, not feeling particularly cheerful
at the prospect of a feast of seventy-four. The long-expected
mail arrived just as I was going in to dinner, but all I could
rescue out of it was a letter from Lord Sydenham full of stuff
pf no use. Franey brought me news just as I was going
in to dinner that there was nothing else but official packages.
He followed with a note saying home letters had been found.

For some unearthly reason the Ronaldshays turned up to
go round their seventy-four guests about a quarter of an hour
before the Chelmsfords appeared. I had one disturbing
contretemps in entering the room, being told that it was my
duty to stand next to Lady Sinha, whom I was to take in to
dinner. I made a bee-line across the room to get near her
for the ceremony. I said : “ How do you do ? ” to her, and
she, poor blind lady, mistaking me for the Viceroy, proceeded
to courtesy low. She was loudly reprimanded by her husband.
The whole audience tittered ; she did not turn a hair. I felt
uncomfortable, and finally could stand it no longer, so
complaining of the heat of the room, I walked out to wait with
the A.D.C.s outside.

After dinner I found myself placed between the Lord
Bishop of Calcutta, who discoursed on snakes, and the late
Canon Allnutt, of Delhi, and on the other side by the Admiral.

After dinner I talked a little more about Boy Scouts to
Carter and about the Zoo to Dods, and I had an interesting
talk with the policeman, Plowden, about Cooch Behar and
the growth of the anarchist movement, which he says is

December io] CALCUTTA 99

growing and spreading among the Mohammedans. Then 1
had a few words with the Persian Consul-General, who denies
the story of the growth of the new religion in Persia that Dobbs
told me about in Delhi. He himself said cynically : “ There
is no room for new religions ; if I lose my old one, I never
want another.”

Tuesday , December 11. Back to the weary round in the
morning. It was Dharbunga’s day, a proper prelude to
“ Our Day.” He had got up three deputations, and he read
long addresses from all of them — All-India Landholders ; All-
India Orthodox Hindus ; Bihar Landholders. They all
wanted official communal representation. When I asked
them how I was to define in an Act of Parliament an orthodox
Hindu, they said an orthodox Hindu is one who believes in
caste. When I said : “ Which caste ? ” they said : “ Oh,
just say orthodox Hindus ; that will be sufficient.” Ye gods,
what children they are ; and they are all anxious rather to
get protection than to stand on their own legs and fight their
own battles. I talked to them rather severely on this line.
I told them I had heard that they were stampeding to the
Congress extremes because they were afraid the Government
was going to be stampeded ; that they were to believe no
rumours about our policy until they heard what our policy
was, and that they were to remain patient and loyal to the
Government. They took it very well. Of courst?, old
Burdwan was there and Chitnavis, the original mover of the
resolution asking to be taxed for the War. Altogether I
shook hands with Dharbunga during the morning, coming
and going, fourteen times. He will not do anything himself.
He wants Conciliation Boards between the Hindus and
Mohammedans to manage the festivals. I asked him :
Why appeal to the Government to do it. He said the
Government must do it. Cosimbazar was a member of
this deputation also. I think they will take Curtis.

ioo AN INDIAN DIARY [December 1 1

Our next friends were the All-India Conference of Indian
Christians. These people are going on fast ; they number
three and a half millions now, and will soon have four millions,
but they have four times the literacy of any other people in
India, and the talk of communal representation for them,
with their mixed electorates, is the most flagrant demand I
have ever seen. We must beware of this system which
Morley introduced, for it is fatal to the democratisation of
institutions and causes disunion between the Hindu and the
Mohammedan, and we must not extend it more than we can
help. Their leader, Das, is a pathetic example of what a
man can do belonging to an unpopular sect by appealing to
mixed electorates.

At night Sinha came to talk to us for an hour and a half.
He was extraordinarily impressive and entertaining, and I
really think his diatribes against official majorities, and his
plea that if the Government of India could not get its Legisla-
tive Councils to assent to its legislation it would be infinitely
better to pass the matter by ordinance impressed Lord Chelms-
ford. He gave a complete scheme of his own from village
councils, which, by the by, he said would take at least three
years to establish. He wanted the two Governments, the
Ministry and the Executive Council, to sit in the same Legisla-
tive Council, but I think we argued him out of this. I told
Chelmsford, when he had gone, that if he would give me the
whol 6 of Sinha’s scheme I wanted nothing more. The worst
of Chelmsford is that although the cross-examination which
goes on in his presence does him a world of good, when he
gets back to the reactionaries, heaven help us.

Wednesday , December 12. This morning I had to see
Clarke, the Commissioner of Police in Calcutta. He is very
interesting ; very impressed by the feeling that the people
are against us on the police, and suggests that the watch and
ward functions of the district police should be subordinated

CALCUTTA

IOI

December 12]

to watch committees so as to show the people that we intend
to train them for transference of the police. The one trouble
is that they want police for a different motive to the one for
which they want education. They want education because
they love it ; they want the police because they hate them.
They want to control education to make it better ; they want
to control the police to make them worse. However, there
is much in Clarke’s suggestion, and I sent him to see the
Viceroy.

Then, having refused to see the races because I had come
to Calcutta to work, I had Curtis to lunch, and he stayed with
me till 4 o’clock. He is a strange mixture of impossible
inhumanity and soundness. He wants to abolish the jury
system for Englishmen in this country, which, he said, was
possible in Rhodesia, and to arrange for the same treatment
for Colonials in India as Indians get in the Colonies by statute.
He also wants separation of the Judicial and the Executive.
He is still angry with Chelmsford, whom he saw before lunch,
and refused to make peace with him, but says he is going to
dismiss it from his mind till after the War. He then told
me that he could not discuss his quarrel with Chelmsford
because he would not like to say anything on the matter
without the presence of Chelmsford. Poor Chelmsford !
He tried to hold out the olive branch, but it was no good.
There is no doubt that Curtis and I see thoroughly eye to
eye and he is going to be most helpful, and he is a vajuable
acquisition because he holds in the hollow of his hands
the Times and Lord Milner.

So ends Calcutta. I like Chelmsford more than ever.
Fatigue cannot stale the courtesy of his manner or the inherent
honesty of his character. Whether he will ever be got to
express any opinion of his own, or to get over the difficulty
of deferring to everything that is said to his officials, I do not
know. Ronaldshay is alive and he has some driving force.
I am going to devote my whole attention to obtaining support

102

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 12

for my scheme, because I believe I cannot think out anything
better than I have got, and I believe it is perfectly straight-
forward from beginning to end. I see my way clear all the
way through. I am going to set out my scheme as it stands
to-day now.

MAIN PRINCIPLES

1. No advance towards self-government can be possible
which does not attach responsibility to the Indians for the
votes they give and the speeches they make.

2. It is far better to use honest than dishonest devices, and
it is better not to give with one hand and take away with the
other, or practice any fraud upon the Indian people.

PROPOSALS

1. Complete system of Village Unions, District Councils,
unofficial, with the dawn of local self-government Civil
Service.

2. A completely elected Legislative Assembly with a
Ministry responsible to it in charge of the B subjects.

3. A Legislative Council consisting of nominated officials
and members delegated from the Legislative Assembly.

4. No official majority in this House.

5. Governor to have power to pass legislation in emergency
by ordinance, which shall hold till the next statutory enquiry.
See below.

6. Standing Committees to be associated with the members
of the Executive Council.

7. Executive Councils to be only two in number.

8. For framing the Budget, joint sittings between the
Executive Council and the Ministry.

9. This procedure to be adopted in all cases of dispute,
i.e. if the police wish to close a school for sedition, Ministry
to be informed of it, with power of taking it for decision in
the joint sitting.

CALCUTTA

December 12]

103

10. Joint sittings not to be by vote of majority. Unless
an agreement is reached, Governor to decide.

1 1. Executive Council only to consist of two members.

12. Ministers to be allowed to vote their own salaries.

13. Communal representation to continue and to be
extended to landholders and Sikhs and European com-
munities, but to be taken away from Chambers of Commerce.
Universities to remain.

14. Government of India to have two Chambers.

15. Power of ordinance as in Local Councils.

1 6. Ruling princes to be invited to sit for Imperial purposes.

1 7. This will not appear so strange as it is now, as in grow-
ing federation Provincial autonomy becomes more complete,
until it is found that nearly, if not all, the functions left to the
Government of India concern the Native States, i.e. Customs
concern the people of Bikaner when they smoke imported
cigars.

18. Government of India to allow Provinces to tax anything
except a certain number of heads.

19. The Brunyate 1 scheme of finance adjusted to smooth
away inequalities, e.g. the contribution from the United
Provinces.

20. Burma to be separated from India, Viceroy becoming
Governor of India and Burma.

2 1 . Burma to have all its own finances except for a contribu-
tion for Imperial defence, and no member on the Imperial
Legislative Council.

22. The Meyer scheme to be turned down because it
does not really proceed on provincial autonomy lines.

23. Enabling legislation through the Government of India
every five years.

24. Statutory enquiry every ten years only, to consider
whether ordinances passed either by the Imperial Government
or the Local Government shall remain in force, and cases
where Enabling Bills or Disabling Bills have not been passed.

1 J. B. Brunyate, C.S.I., C.I.E. (Member of the Council of India).

104 AN INDIAN DIARY [ December 12

25. Judicial and Executive to be separated.

26. Officials to be allowed and to be ordered to speak in
Councils and to explain Government policy in the districts.

27. A new organisation of Indians to be collected, assisted
in every possible way by the Government, for propaganda on
behalf of our proposals, and to send a delegation to England
to assist us.

28. A conference at Delhi of the nucleus of such an
organisation.

29. If I fail to get Chelmsford’s assent to all this it will
remain for me to decide how far I can compromise. On this
I shall take the advice of Sinha and Curtis. Then, if we still
differ, I shall go home and fight it, and if I fail, resign.

30. If I succeed in getting the Government of India to
assent to all this, then I am going to ask the Prime Minister
to relieve me at once of my office, to remove Lord Islington,
and to make me Under-Secretary of State for India until
such time as the Bill is through Parliament.

3 1 . This only if he will consent to appoint as my successor
Sir S. P. Sinha, giving him a seat in the House of Commons.

32. This idea, which came to me in my bath this morning,
seems to me the most brilliant that has ever entered my head.
It will teach the Indian civil servants that a British statesman
who, however undeservedly, has reached Cabinet rank, finds
nothing derogatory in assisting rather than controlling an
Indian. It will fire the imagination of the Indian, and it is
just the sort of thing that Lloyd George’s dramatic sense will
accept. However, all that is very much in the future.

33. I think three members of the Executive Council of the
Governor-General should be Indians, and that all statutory
restrictions upon his choice of colleagues should be removed.
It is a matter for consideration whether there should not be
an Attorney-General.

34. I still adhere to the opinion that the functions of the
Viceroy should be split in two.

CALCUTTA

December 13]

105

Thursday , December 13. The first night on the train
(Wednesday) we played bridge. This morning I mainly
devoted to my mail, but I had also a very long talk with
Vincent. He expressed some alarm lest, if the War news
continues bad, things in India will pass from our control ;
but on politics, although very sticky, I found him better than
I expected. Abolition of trial by jury he is quite willing
for ; separation of Judicial and Executive, he is quite willing
for ; recruitment of India Office by Indian civilians, he is
quite ready for ; appointment to Civil Service in India by
nomination and examination and a Civil Service Board to
arrange it, not a Government concern, he is quite ready for.
He likes the scheme of the United Provinces Committee best,
but seemed to be quite pleased when I said we could do
different things in different Provinces, and he liked my
Burma scheme. He said we need not worry about finance ;
the Government of India did not like Brunyate’s scheme nor
Meyer’s scheme, and would be quite prepared to accept
anything that could be devised to harmonise the two.

I then told him that I must have a Second Chamber in
the Government of India, as at present advised. If the
Government of India stuck to their insistence on an official
majority in the Upper House, I should very much regret it,
but if I got everything else I would agree to it. Further than
this I was prepared, if we could hammer out a good scheme
for the Government of India, to say in our report it was a
matter for the consideration of the Cabinet whether this
scheme might not be leftover until the other scheme had been
carried, but I should do this with great reluctance. He is
very anxious to have a Foreign member, and did not at all
dislike my idea of an Attorney-General outside the Executive
Council of India.

After he had left I had a talk with Chelmsford, who said
Vincent was very pleased, and said that he was quite convinced
now that I did not intend to thrust my views down the Govern-

IO 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 13

ment of India’s throat. I replied : “ Most certainly not ;
that is quite right I intend to persuade you to accept them.”

“ Yes,” said Lord Chelmsford, “ but he says that you show
every disposition to be willing to compromise.” “ Oh, he
is quite wrong there,” said I ; “ I can only compromise on
things I regard as non-essential. Vincent said that Roberts
was very depressing, and that Donoughmore disliked the
Government of India. I said I did, too, as a machine.”

I do not think I recorded the fact in Calcutta that Roberts
suddenly came to the conclusion he must attend the Congress.

I told him either that he would have to leave because he could
not sit through certain speeches, or he would be accused of
sitting through them when he ought to have left ; either that
he would be regarded as our emissary, in which case we would
frighten the moderates into thinking we were accepting the
Congress scheme, or he would be regarded as differing from
all of us in wanting to accept it, which was not the case ; in
any case, we were Chelmsford’s guests, and must not do
anything of which he disapproved. Chelmsford has had a
talk with him, and he has abandoned the idea.

In the afternoon I finished my mail, and had some talk
with Duke, Roberts and Donoughmore, also a little conversa-
tion with Chelmsford about borrowing powers for the
Provinces. I hope I am converting him on that. He says
he sees no reason why we should not borrow for other things
than railways and irrigation if we have a sinking fund. Duke
says he does not like my scheme because of the incapacity of
the Bengalis. Roberts tried to describe to us a scheme of
his own which I could not understand, but which he is putting
on paper.

Last night I thought of a modification of my own scheme.
If we had a free hand we would sub-divide Provinces, and
thus get over the difficulty of two Governments, one of which
wou\d he regarded as Indian and the other as TLngiish in the
the same area. We cannot have that. A brilliant idea :

CALCUTTA

December 13]

107

let us group them. Let us divide India into, say, four
Presidencies, each Presidency presided over by a Governor,
with an Executive Council and a Legislative Council for the
transaction of A subjects, Law and Order, things in which
the Government of India are interested, and the Budget of the
whole area, with no powers of taxation, but with the right to
allot the amount of money to be spent on the B subjects.
Under him would be a series of Provinces, presided over by
Lieutenant-Governors, aided by Executive Committees or
Ministries responsible to an elected Assembly, each with a
secretary at present from the Civil Service. Thus you might
have the Presidency of Bombay, with a Lieutenant-Governor
of Bombay and a Lieutenant-Governor of Sindh ; a Presi-
dency of Bengal, with Lieutenant-Governors for Bengal
proper, Bihar, Orissa, Assam ; a Presidency of Madras, with
Lieutenant-Governors of Madras, the Central Provinces
(query Ceylon) ; a Presidency of Upper India, with
Lieutenant-Governors of the United Provinces and the
Punjab. As A subjects became B subjects the Presidencies
would disappear. After all, there are some advantages in
larger areas for Police and Law and Justice. It is only in
developmental work that you want small areas.

It is just worth recording that to-day at lunch-time a deputa-
tion appeared on the platform, anxious to extend a welcome
to Chelmsford. Indignation reigned supreme. This must
be a plot of Basu’s. How could we receive a deputation
without the consent of the local Government ? Roberts got
his head boxed by Chelmsford tor daring to suggest that he
should go and speak to them. I said nothing, because it is
no use tilting against pinpricks, but I looked pained ; and
after lunch Chelmsford actually went and spoke to them.
It really is a heartrending sight to see at every station that we
stop at the nearest the crowds can approach is two fields off,
where they look and watch. I cannot for the life of me
see that, in a country where the police are everything, the risk

108 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 13

in little country stations would be very great of allowing
people to come and cheer, and attempt to make the Govern-
ment more popular with the people. Contrast this with the
Prime Minister’s visit through England. Here everything
has been done to keep the Viceroy aloof from the people, and,
of course, and possibly rightly, to see that I did not interfere
with his position in the country.

December 14]

IV

MADRAS

Friday , December 14. We arrived at Madras to-day at
half-past one, and drove to Government House in motor cars.
Pentland met us at the station, and we were cheered through
the streets by the nearest approach to a welcoming crowd I
have yet seen. Poor things, the people of India expect a
great deal. Some are apprehensive, and hope that their
apprehensions will not be realised, but most of them, in fact,
everybody that shakes hands with me, believes that a new
heaven is going to dawn upon earth, and I do not see that
anything that we can do will be satisfactory to them.

Madras has produced no contribution whatever to the
discussion of the matters we have to deal with. The Govern-
ment of India letters and circulars are answered on half sheets
of notepaper ; the whirlwind rages round them ; political storms
wax and menace, and they remain obstructive, angry, sullen,
effortless.

Nothing can exceed the beauty of Madras — the blue sea,
the white buildings, the white-dressed people, the rich green
vegetation, Government House itself set in a park, in parts
English-like, with great spreading trees and lawns 4 in parts
tropical, with groves of palm trees and herds of black buck
feeding on the grass, and the sea beyond — the most lovely
thing you can possibly imagine. And the dining-room on
the first floor on a great verandah right open to the air, with
great pillars and green blinds, white and green ceiling, and
tables spread on the black and white marble floor — it is a
dream place.

In the afternoon I wrote a few mail letters that were remain-
ing over, read a few papers, and then played tennis. After

109

I IO

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 14

tennis we had a conference, when I think I convinced my
colleagues about my Enabling Bill process, got their assent
to framing a scheme for the reform of the Government of
India, and discussed franchise a little bit.

Then dinner ; about twenty-one guests. I sat between
Lady Pentland and Lady Cardew, wife of the senior member
of Council. She is very interested in birds. She first drew
my attention to the brilliant amethyst-coloured honey-eaters,
like humming birds, and about the same size, that collect the
honey from the flowers under my verandah. She talked about
snakes. She seems to have had many adventures with
Russell’s vipers.

After dinner I talked to the Indian member of Council, a
very tame creature, who has been up and up and up in the
provincial service : his name is Rajagopala Achariyar. I

also talked to the Collector of Madras, who is a Mohammedan,
Aziz-ud-din, a loyal, well-trained, well-drilled person, who
interested me because he has the habit of taking off his turban
with a low bow when he speaks to one.

Saturday , December 15. I had a talk with Chelmsford
about the procedure at Delhi. We are to have a week of
confabulation ourselves, and then to meet in Joint Session
with the Government of India. When the Lieutenant-
Governors come we are to have an agenda for each day, so
as to confine the discussion, and a sub-committee on finance,
consisting of Duke, Meyer and Meston. He talked to me
about the difference between himself and me — I had adlati,
he had colleagues ; I was really independent. I told him
I did not wish to point out how lonely I was, and that really
his description was not accurate, because the Government of
India did not really come into it at all. I was here to discuss
the matter with him. He was quite right to try and carry
the Government of India with him, but the time would come
with us when he would have to decide whether he would back

[To face page iio

December 15] MADRAS 111

up transient phantoms or make a good scheme on his own.
He agreed, but said he was right to carry them with him if he
could. I said : Certainly ; that would aid matters very
much indeed, but I felt he was being coerced by them, and
he must remember that Meyer would soon be gone and
Meston take his place. I do not think I did much good, but
I warned him of the position in which he stood.

Later I saw Gillman, 1 who is quite progressive. He has,
I am afraid, no weight with his colleagues, or they would never
have tackled the question in the way they have done. He is in
favour of the Curtis scheme, and would divide the Telugu
portion of the country in the north from the Tamil country
in the South, and have two State Councils.

He was followed by Sir Clement Simpson, head of Binny’s,
who are doing an enormous business in the manufacture of
cotton khaki for the Indian Government. He was a very
excellent fellow, but he had no political views, and I do not
know why he came. I could not get him to complain or to
say anything, and, unfortunately, I have no newspapers here
to know what the Madrasi people have been saying about the
situation. I entered into an explanation of why we had
tackled the matter during the War, but all he wanted was a
permit for a school teacher to come out.

Another lunch, much like yesterday, and another meeting
with my colleagues, when we came to the conclusion that it
was better not to have a week’s sitting alone and then a week
with the Government of India, but meetings interspersed in
both weeks.

Then a garden party at Guindy, a lovely place about seven
miles from here, to which we drove amid cheering crowds.
It was not very exciting, but it was a most charming place,
and I am glad to have seen it. I had some talk with a few
Indian judges, and so forth.

The great feature about this place is the terrific influence
and the fear that everybody entertains of the Brahmans.

1 H. F. W. Gillman, C.S.I. (Member, Executive Council, Madras.)

I 12

AN INDIAN DIARY [ December 15

That is the great feature in which this country differs from
any I have yet visited.

Sunday , December 16. Got up at 6, and motored thirty
miles along the Chingleput Road ; then turned off, and had
the most glorious day’s shooting that I can ever remember.
It was a perfect and divine holiday, and cleared my brain.
The game was snipe, but if anybody had seen us shooting,
I would have defied them to tell the sort of game we were
likely to be getting. We were right away from human
habitation ; great blue lakes among lowish hills ; the hills
were thickly covered, and the plains between them too, with
bushes about three feet high, sometimes higher, making quite
a creditable reserved forest used for firewood. It was just
rough jungle with a few trees among it, and the hills were
scarred in places where the bright red rock showed. It is
in this jungle that the snipe are found. We walked mainly
in line, with a lot of coolies who shout and make noises. The
snipe jumped up at all sorts of distances and places, dash down
the hill, backwards and forwards, are most difficult and
sporting driven shots, and worth any ordinary marsh snipe
ten times over. The bushes which usually found themselves
between you and the snipe increase the difficulty of the shoot-
ing. As I think snipe shooting is the best fun in the world,
this dry snipe shooting is a superlative form of it. We walked
all day till about 4, with twenty-five minutes interval for
lunch, from 8 o’clock in the morning. It was not too hot ;
the scenery was beautiful, the shooting was difficult ; there
were enough birds ; there were delicious flowers ; glorious
butterflies, particularly one jolly fellow with a bright red
lower wing and sooty black upper wing. The guns were
Yerney, Maffey, Holland-Hibbert, and myself, and we killed
forty-four couple of snipe, three partridges and a quail. Our
hosts were three business men — Campbell, Walker and
Partridge — who made the most splendid hosts, ran the whole

MADRAS

December 1 6]

ll 3

thing for us, but carried no guns. Such hospitality is almost
incredible.

Monday, December 17. This morning we began the weary,
weary, dreary round. We had some discussion on Saturday
about the prohibited deputations, which had really been
crowded out because there was not room for them, and the
two most important ones are to be put in. But they are the
same series of things. The addresses are all to be found
among my papers ; people who want the Congress League
scheme and people who do not.

In the evening there was a dinner party. I do not know
what I am to do about these dinner parties. I cannot keep
awake after dinner ; in fact, after I had yawned three times
in quite a nice woman’s face, she asked me if I found Madras
a sleepy place. It really is most inconsiderate that, after
days such as we are having in Madras, even worse than the
Calcutta days in my opinion, in a hot climate, it did not occur
to somebody to give us an occassional evening off, as could
easily have been worked, by giving a dinner party to twenty-
eight people one night instead of fourteen on two successive
nights. The dining-room is big enough in all conscience.

I had a long talk in the afternoon, in the presence of the
Viceroy, with Welby, of the Madras Mail , who was also at
dinner. He is a far abler man, I think, than any of the
other journalists I have seen. Frankly he admitted that the
Mrs. Besant incident had made him determined to resist all
reform ; that his was a daily newspaper ; he did not think
much what he wrote ; that if he had been editing a weekly
he might have watered down some of his language.

At dinner I sat next to Mrs. Whitehead, the wife of the
Bishop, a very clever woman, very much loved in Madras.
She confirmed my impression that during the past five years
the change which has come over Madras is simply appalling.
Then it was a peaceful country, inhabited by men and women

1 14

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 17

on amiable terms with one another, differing from the whole
of the rest of India in being happy. Now the English hate
the Indians ; the Indians hate the English, and this new
violent opposition of the Brahmans to the non-Brahmans has
become the guiding principle of the place. Unfortunately,
all the non-Brahmans are so afraid of the Brahmans that they
do what seems to be everybody’s habit since Lord Morley
gave the Mohammedans separate representation — they ask
the Government for protection instead of organising them-
selves and fighting for it. Here, if anywhere, is room for
representative institutions, because here is a party — a religious
party, it is true, but a party — but nothing seems to be done,
and nothing will be done whilst communal representation is
extended and exists. Of course, the causes of this are partly
Mrs. Besant and partly the fact that there is no government.

Tuesday , December 18. I went out this morning before
breakfast with Donoughmore to the Aquarium, which contains
some most beautiful coloured fishes, particularly a black and
white striped fellow, with bright yellow fins, but it is really
very badly run, because the seas round Madras must be full
of the most wonderful medusae and hydroids, and there is
nothing rare or extraordinary in the collection. There are
only about ten tanks. Then I went to see the Zoo, which is
beyond words bad. There is nothing worth seeing, and the
cages in which the animals are kept are almost ghastly.
Pentland described them as better than when he came here,
and it appears that the cages are new.

After breakfast we had Indian Christians, Catholic and
Protestant, and landed proprietors, Zemindars, etc. We
were made to waste our time by having three separate inter-
views with three separate bishops. Not one of them was of
any importance. The most interesting was the Indian
Bishop of Dornakal, but he had very little to say, except to
talk about the conscience clause in missionary schools and the

MADRAS

“5

December 1 8]

depressed classes. Waller, the Bishop of Tinnevelly, is a
much more interesting man. He explained the Brahman
position by the fact that there were no intermediate castes
between the Shudriyas and the Brahmans, the Kayasths and
the Kashastriyas of Northern India being absent. He thinks
that the solution of the conscience clause would be to allow
the missionaries to decide whether they should have a con-
science clause or not. The head of the Roman Catholic
Church, a Dutchman called Aellen, who has been here for
thirty-seven years, and looks like the Master of Trinity, tried
to talk to us about the difference between the canon law and
the English law. His insistence upon putting this in had
prevented a joint address. They all want communal repre-
sentation for the Indian Christians, with the exception of
Waller, the Bishop of Tinnevelly, who admits that it is a bad
method. I will not have any more communal representation.
It was designed, mistakenly, I think, to give protection to
backward communities. The Indians ought to stand on their
own legs ; they are thoroughly well-educated and intelligent.
I talked very severely about this to two of them who came to
see us in the afternoon, a barrister-at-law called Devadas and
a man called Hensman, also a man called Abraham Panditar
Avargal, who has a strange history. A civil servant who had
been out here invested all his savings in four enormous gold
bricks, which he built into the wall of his house. When he
retired and went to England he left them here. On his
death-bed he told his daughter about them. His daughter
came out to India to find them, fell ill and was nursed by
Panditar. On her death-bed she told him about the gold
bricks, and his fortune depended upon his having found them.

We had an interesting deputation from the women, asking
for education for girls, more medical colleges, etc., etc. One
very nice-looking doctor from Bombay, Dr. Joshi, was present,
the deputation being led by Mrs. Naidu, the poetess, a very
attractive and clever woman, but I believe a revolutionary at

1 1 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 18

heart. She is connected by marriage with Chattopadyia, of
India House fame. They asked also for women’s votes.
The woman who drafted the address, Mrs. Cousins, is a well-
known suffragette from London. Cousins himself is a
theosophist, and one of Mrs. Besant’s crowd. Mrs. Besant
herself was there. They assured me that the Congress would
willingly pass a unanimous request for women’s suffrage.
Immediately they had gone we interviewed the Coorg Land-
holders’ Association, who want very moderate reforms in
Coorg. They were fine old savages, with knives and axes
bristling in their belts. I asked them if there were any
women landholders in Coorg. They said : Yes. I asked
if they were members of their association. They said : No.
I asked why. They said it had never occurred to them. I
argued in favour of women’s suffrage, and one man blurted
out fiercely : “ Yes, but women are women,” which seemed to
him to conclude the whole subject.

Dinner party in the evening, followed by Indian music.
Wednesday’s programme looks even more dreary than any
of the others, and it includes a garden party.

I had some talk last night with Chelmsford on the subject
of the reform of the Government of India, which he says is
the only difference between us. I have everything to lose by
differing from Chelmsford, but I cannot leave the Government
of India untouched. It is not because I said that I believed
it was bad ; it is because I felt it was bad. I felt it before I
came out ; I feel it more so now I am here. The dead hand
of the Government of India is over everything, blighting it.
It is worse than anything, except the Government of Madras.
I cannot leave it alone, nor do I think the Government of
India can decently refuse to consider itself. It will look so
very vulnerable to think that they were willing to touch
everything except themselves. Their only chance, living at
Delhi as they do, is to be surrounded by a really representative
collection of people from all over India. This can only be

MADRAS

December 18]

UJ

obtained by enlarging and liberalising the Legislative Council.
You cannot do this and keep official control without a Second
Chamber. Therefore one is led to a Second Chamber. A
Second Chamber has the incidental advantage of incorporating
into the fabric of the Indian constitution something which
ought to spread and extend, and be the machinery for in-
corporating the princes sooner or later. Further, the Legisla-
tive Council as it stands is not meant to develop ; Morley
said so. We want to sweep away this dead wood and make
something that is intended to develop. In addition to this,
there is no argument in saying you must wait and see how the
Legislative Councils of the Provinces work, for there we are
trying to begin transferring the power from English to
Indians, and the Government of India we intend to keep as it
is, only in a more suitable condition. I am going to address
Chelmsford on the subject.

I had a letter to-day from Mrs. Besant, saying that things
were happening in England about which she wished to speak
to me. She wanted, further, to have some talk with me
because, as President of the Congress, she would be leading
the Indian political movement during 1918, and she was
prepared, within limits, to modify her policy ; but she
wanted to talk to me first, and she could not do it in the
presence of an official by whom she was likely to be interned
when I left. I showed the letter to the Viceroy, who agreed
that I should see her, and I have fixed up a meeting a/ter she
has seen Lord Donoughmore to-morrow afternoon.

Wednesday , December 19. The morning began by my
seeing Stokes, who breakfasted with me. He is a friend of
Seton’s, and is a collector of a district here, and has been in the
Government of India. He seems to be, therefore, a little
more alive than most Madrasis ; but I could not get much
agreement with any policy out of him, and I do not think
he was much more hopeful than anybody else.

1 1 8 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 19

The deputations were mainly from non-Brahman Associa-
tions, who talked about the necessity for communal representa-
tion and a dyarchical system. What strikes me as so astound-
ing about these non-Brahmans is that although they are
vigorous enough to object to the influence of the Brahmans,
they lie on their stomachs and appeal to the Government for
help instead of fighting ; and although there is the beginning
of the most promising party system here, they want to spoil
it by the horrible extension of communal representation.

Then followed the Moslem League, and, of course, after
that the non-Moslem League Moslems. Each said that the
other was non-representative ; each said that the other
ought to be disregarded and ignored.

Then came the Ulemas of Madras, who summed up their
policy, in answer to His Excellency’s question : “ Can you
tell your views shortly to the Secretary of State and myself ? ”
by saying : “ We does not want Home Rule.” Then a
delightful old man, with a beautiful beard and a fine profile,
told us that he had studied the Khoran and all the Com-
mentaries, the Bible and the Holy Books, and he could find
no sanction for the Congress Moslem League scheme in
them !

And then I saw Mrs. Besant. She told me that Lord
Sydenham had been telling lies about her in England, and
that she proposed to take action against him, but that she did
not wish to do anything to embarrass me : did I object ? I
asked her whether she wanted me to plead with her to spare
Lord Sydenham for my sake ; if that was her suggestion, my
answer would be that it did not seem to me to be worth while.
She then told me that she did not much care what scheme we
adopted, provided that it led automatically to complete Home
Rule within a short time. I urged her to use her influence
with the Congress to put that test to any scheme that was
submitted. She said she would, but they would take anything
which gave them elected majorities and the power of the

MADRAS

December 19]

119

purse. I told her that the power of the purse meant every-
thing, and she said : “ Not with reasonable people.” I said
I could not defend a policy in the House of Commons on the
ground that it was meant for reasonable people, and 1 reiterated
that the sole test which she ought to apply was whether it led
assuredly to self-government. She then said that there must
also be some restriction of coercive legislation, that she never
knew when and how security was to be demanded for a paper
and for what reasons. My own view is very strongly that
if the Government would only explain themselves, see these
people more often, not merely warn them, but argue with
them as we have been doing in our interviews, that they could
do a great deal of good. It is the unexplained hukm that is
out of date. I do not think I did much good with Mrs.
Besant, but it was well to have seen her, and she has been
pouring more stuff into me since. She wrote to me in the
evening and told me that she did not come to the garden party
because she had not been invited ; that she had called at
Government House when she was released from internment
in order to let bygones be bygones, but that the officials were
petty. If I had been Pentland, I think I should have asked
her to the garden party and sat her at tea between the Viceroy
and myself : it would have been a pretty revenge.

I told Mrs. Besant that I should tell the Viceroy all she
had said, and she said : “ I like your Viceroy ; he seems a
good man.” I told him this also.

Then followed an interminable garden party of 8 50 'people,
grossly mismanaged because I was left to be stared at by
everybody and quite unable to find anybody to talk to.

By the by, I asked Mrs. Besant whether she was going to
say anything about social reform, and she said : “ No ; it
was no use talking about social reform, because the English
could not do it without interfering with religion ; there would
be time to talk about social reform when they got powers.”
She promised to send me her Congress address to Bombay.

120 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 19

At the garden party a fine old Zemindar from the south
came up and showed me a locket he was wearing of blue
enamel, with diamonds, containing a lock of hair of George I,
and a portrait of his ancestor, given to him, I think, in 1790,
by the East India Company. He asked me to take it back
as a present to the King-Emperor. I told him the King-
Emperor would much prefer to know that he wore it. I had
to shout to make him hear, and a crowd collected. He
seemed much gratified when I promised to tell the King
about it. I came away from the garden party as quickly as
possible, disgusted with the fact that the A.D.C.s, generally
from ignorance, had left me absolutely in the lurch. It is
no use asking a man at such a party to whom he would like
to talk ; they ought to introduce him. I seized a soldier by
the hand and asked him in desperation if I had ever met
him before at one time in the afternoon. He replied : “ I
am certain you have not.”

There was an auction in the banqueting hall after I had
gone, and the Queen’s presents that I had brought out and a
musical-box chair presented by the young Sinclair, and
included in the sale, fetched the top price of 1,500 rupees.
Four hundred rupees was realised for a card bearing the
Buckingham Palace crest and saying : “ From the Queen,”
and 520 rupees for the first rupee note issued in this Province.
By the by, I hear that these rupee notes are going very well.

After the garden party two men came to see us who had
nothing much to say of great interest. A man called Reddiyar
was scathing on the subject of Mrs. Besant’s lead to the Home
Rulers. I was very tired, and went away to prepare for
dinner. I sat next to Lady Pentland (who discussed with me
Zionism, the disappearance of old Liberalism, the wickedness
of Nationalism), and Mrs. Phillips, the wife of a judge.
Donoughmore and Roberts dined at the Cosmopolitan Club,
where they delivered speeches which appear to have been very
amusing. Donoughmore brought the house down. He is

December 19] MADRAS 12 1

very popular with the Indians, and is really very good-natured
with them. He told them that he had come to India to help
to make a constitution for them, but his own constitution
was being ruined by having too much to eat. They are never
likely to forget this mot. There may be some great fun out
of this, because I asked Maffey to write me a letter protesting
in the name of the Viceroy against speeches being delivered
by my party, and I have called upon them for an explanation.
I hope they will not learn about the joke. It will upset
Roberts very much.

I have not had any talk yet with Pentland ; I really must
before I leave here. I am quite sure that he is talking and
acting under restraint, and I think I shall have to ask him
what he would prefer to do — to stay on or to go home. I am
certain that the Government of Madras is an impossible
institution.

Thursday , December 20. This morning I went before
breakfast to the Victoria Technical Institute. I bought a
few yards of stuff, but most of the attractive things had
already been purchased by other members of the party. Then
I went on to the Aquarium, and looked at the fishes again,
and home to breakfast with Roberts. He has produced his
scheme, which is a variant of the dyarchic double Chamber
scheme, and is not uncompromising.

Then we started the day’s round with an address from the
Andhras in favour of a Telugu Province ; a short interview
with Subba Rao — they are all Congress men — and then I
met one of the most interesting men I have come across,
a man called Achariyar of Salem. He is really a great man.
He was a member of the Municipal Council, and was sentenced
to ten years rigorous imprisonment for a Mohammedan-
Hindu row that occurred in his time. The Government
dismissed him from the membership of Council. He
appealed ; won his appeal and was acquitted ; brought

122

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 20

actions for perjury against the witnesses and got them con-
demned ; sued the Government for wrongful dismissal and got
damages. He is an astute thinker ; he objects very strongly
to all forms of imprisonment without trial. I think he is on
the right lines in these things. He objects to provincial
autonomy, and wants a development of the Government
of India, with a Parliament of 300 people, subordinate
administrators, but with no sovereign powers or Legislative
Councils, and the annexation of Ceylon. He is the most
vigorous thinker that I have met, even though some of his
ideas are impracticable.

An interesting feature of the deputation from the Andhras
was the inclusion in a deputation largely of Brahmans of one
punchayet.

After a short interval with a man called Sarma, who was not
in the least instructive, and simply a Congress League man,
I at last met Srinivasa Sastri, Ghokale’s successor as Savant
of India, and a thoroughly sound man. He argued in favour
of the Congress Moslem League scheme, but finally said he
would accept any scheme which fulfilled four conditions :

1 . There must be elements of progress and a guarantee of
progress in the scheme itself.

2. The step must be substantial and not hedged round.
There must be no humiliating stipulations as to fitness.

3. That India should have fiscal liberty. I said that the
principles must be settled by an Imperial Conference. He
agreed.*

4. Absolute equality between races.

I am quite sure he is on the right lines, and I am quite sure
it would aid matters if we could only get rid of the Judicial
and Executive. I am quite sure, also, that the Government
must issue a public declaration to the Governments that they
must work the scheme and that the civil servants must not
obstruct. Chelmsford and the Government of India want
to do as little as they need. I think it is absolutely essential

December 20] MADRAS 123

that they should do as much as they can. Grudging giving has
always been the bane of Indian administration. I am going
to tell Chelmsford so.

Sastri is much in favour of a conference at Delhi of non-
official Indians. He says he is quite willing to serve with
Basu in choosing them. They should be moderates, because
a time is coming when we shall have to declare war on the
extremists. He is anxious that we should invite a deputation
to England.

After he had left, two men came, one a Home Ruler and
the other in favour of the Curtis scheme.

After lunch we had Ramaswami Aiyar, who is one of the
cleverest men I have ever met in my life. He would do
brilliantly at the English Bar. He was opposed to Mrs.
Besant in her case against the Hindu , but has since become
her legal adviser, and she has got him heart and soul. He
was very extreme, but very, very, very able. He tied us
completely into knots. He is so anxious that the absurd
representations against the Brahmans should disappear.
Even although he is a Brahman himself, he would fix the
maximum number of seats that the Brahmans should win in
Madras, but he would not have separate representation. I
am sure his method is better, but I see no necessity for either.

He was followed by Subrahmanya Aiyar, an old ex-judge,
who had written a violent letter to President Wilson in which
he asked Wilson to interfere to get Home Rule. I pitched
into him with great violence for saying in his letter that
British officials voted themselves “ exorbitant salaries and
large allowances ; they refuse us education ; they sap us of
our wealth ; they impose crushing taxes without our consent ;
they cast thousands of our people into prisons for uttering
patriotic sentiments — prisons so filthy that often the inmates
die from loathsome diseases.” I spoke to him so harshly and
so violently that I fear he will never have a good word to say for
me again, and this is the man who edited my speeches !

124 an INDIAN DIARY [December 20

But it was a disgraceful paragraph ; and when he describes
the Indian civil servant as being so subtle and clever that he
would put into the shade a syndicate composed of Machiavelli,
Li Hung Chang and Abdul Hamid, he really showed how
ridiculous he was ; and he is a judge with a pension. I told
him that he ought never to have served a Government of
which he thought like this. He is very old and infirm, and
perhaps I treated him rather harshly, but I was angry.

After him I went to the Cosmopolitan Club as a guest of
the Indian member of the Executive Council, and had tea
with a lot of people. I had a long talk again with Sastri, who
is going to be most helpful ; and came home to see the
Editor of the Hindu and the financial expert of the Congress
party here, the Editor of the Swadesamitran. They neither
of them understood the Curtis scheme, as their pamphlet
showed, but one of them produced a pamphlet which, if
true, contains the most crushing indictment of the Govern-
ment of Madras for disallowing all sorts of legislation and
resolutions, and therefore bringing this crisis upon themselves.

They were followed by the Diwan of Mysore, who came to
speak to me about the Cauvery Arbitration, and also about his
desire to associate princes with the Second Chamber. He is
quite right. Chelmsford objected, but I am sure Chelmsford
is wrong.

Hurrah for a holiday 1 I was permitted to accept an
invitation to dine at the Madras Club with Gillman, and I
went there. Maffey, Yerney, Bernard Hunter, Mr. Justice
Todhunter, Gordon Fraser, Walker, who went shooting with
us, and Sir William Vincent were the chief other guests.
It is an enormously big building, rambling over many acres.
The cooking is excellent, and it was very pleasant to hear
“ God save the King ” being played upstairs at Government
House as we went out to dinner in short coats and black ties.
Welby was also one of the guests. Really, these people who
talk about the authority of the Government having gone as

December 20] MADRAS 125

a consequence of Mrs. Besant’s release will one day make the
Indians believe it. Bernard Hunter talked of forming a new
Indo-European Club. He is very anxious to see a State
bank for India ; thinks the rupee notes are going fairly well ;
and has just shown his business foresight by buying all
the whisky in Madras for the Club when he read that the
Americans had stopped manufacture. After dinner we
played a little mild bridge ; I came home at about 1 1 , and so
to bed. An interesting day.

Friday , December 21. This morning Pentland came to
breakfast with me. He told me that he believed we ought
not to talk politics to these people at all ; we ought to play
with them, humour them on politics, and discuss with them
industrial development, education and social reform ; that
there is no necessity for doing anything ; that he could not
understand why we thought differently ; that nobody in
Madras wanted the announcement ; that the whole of his
Council were unanimous ; that even the last Council agreed
with him. He actually said there was no difference of
opinion between him and Sivaswami Aiyar, the late member
of the Executive Council, who is an out-and-out Congress
scheme man. He talked about the Brahmans bitterly. He
assured me that all respect for the Government had gone ;
that people used to consider all officials, from the Viceroy
downwards, as sort of gods not to be argued with or chaUcnged.
That had all disappeared ; we were playing with fire ; danger
was written everywhere ; that he does not know what to
say or how to think ; he has no confidence to express an
opinion ; he does not know what to say. The position is
very difficult ; authority has gone, he is not prepared to say
whether for always, but, at any rate, for the present. He told
me that the theosophical papers were writing violently black-
guarding the Government and the history of British Govern-
ment in India for neutral consumption. I asked him why they

126 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 11

were not answered. He said he was not prepared to commit
himself to any opinion on that ; there should be something
done about it, but they had not been answered. He told me
that Mrs. Besant, at an interview with him before her intern-
ment, had read from a paper. He asked her what paper it
was. She said the Congress League scheme. She asked
him if he had not seen it. He replied : “ I have not seen
that paper.” She then spread all over India that he had not
seen the Congress League scheme. I asked him why he did
not deny it. He said he did not choose to, but that was the
sort of libel that went on ! He assured me that constitutional
questions were impossible here. I told him that the Viceroy
and all his Government differed from him in his views. He
said he did not like that expression of opinion, but he was told
that the Viceroy’s Government was a very weak one. Ye
gods, when one reads of the resolutions and Bills which these
people have disallowed ; when one realises how they have
brought the whole thing upon themselves, I did not know
what to say to him. It was almost oppressive. We shall
simply have to ride over the Government of India. Pentland
has certainly behaved extremely well to the Viceroy and
myself, if he thinks all this. He told me that everything in
India was a public document ; that the Government of India
letter will soon be public property, and that it will be said
that we formulated schemes whilst we were pretending to
hear opinions. That is obviously the line which the Govern-
ment will inspire the Madras Mail to take. It is a warning.

Chelmsford tells me that he spoke to Pentland about my
suggestion that he ought to have asked Mrs. Besant to the
garden party, and he said that most of the Europeans would
have walked off the ground. I wonder ! Have they no
more humour than we have ?

By the by, I asked Maffey to write me a letter on behalf of
the Viceroy protesting against the fact that Roberts and
Donoughmore had made speeches at the Cosmopolitan Club.

December 21] MADRAS 127

I got the letter and asked them for notes in reply. It is
almost impossible at the present stage to discover whether
Roberts has seen the joke : Donoughmore, of course, did.
Roberts has certainly impressed Maffey with the belief that
he takes the thing seriously.

After I had finished with Pentland, the Advocate-General
of this Presidency, Srimivasa Aiyangar, came to see me.
He assured me that nobody really expects the whole of the
Congress Moslem League scheme, and if they are certain
that it will develop, they will not much mind. He thinks
the Curtis scheme is the best. He tells me that there is
great bitterness against the Government, but he had nothing
very much to say.

At lunch we were honoured by the presence of H.E. the
Governor of Pondicherry, the French Settlement in India,
who could speak only French. Things are very harmonious
in Pondicherry because there is no colour feeling.

After lunch we had a long talk with Dr. Nair, the leader
of the non-Brahmans. He does not ( bject to the Curtis
scheme, but only if he has communal representation, on which
he was very fierce. He said for a time, at any rate, it was
essential ; that the Brahman officials worked against his
candidates ; that even judges of the High Court had canvassed
against him ; that he could fight against dead odds, but he
could not fight against this sort of thing. He was most
eloquent, rather impressive, and a very vigorous personality,
but he has obviously got a bee in his bonnet, because he
explained that the Home Rule movement was financed by
German money. His sole authority for the statement
seemed to be that once they were poor and now they were rich.

Chelmsford rather alarmed me by telling me that he wanted
to agree with me on how we were to deal with agitation when
I had gone home. I am quite sure you cannot permit these
extreme powers to be used by these people, because people
like the Government of Madras would misuse them at once.

128 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 21

After all, the right answer to agitation is defence, not intern-
ment ; explanation, not tacit acquiescence until the pot
bubbles over. Besides, if we present a scheme for discussion,
we must be prepared to modify it if discussion convinces us,
and therefore agitation will run again.

I came home and had another talk with the attractive
Ramaswami Aiyar. He wished to assure me that they used
violent language because they were goaded to it by the Madras
Government ; that until he talked to me and Lord Chelms-
ford, he had never had the opportunity of speaking frankly
as man to man on political matters with any man in high office.
Is it not amazing ? He said there was no doubt about the
social difficulty. Did not I understand what sort of govern-
ment we had ? Did not I see how there were Indians and
English, with the Indians segregated at one end and the
English at the other ? They were sensitive people, and they
could not help resenting the feeling of inferiority which they
were made to feel when talking to English people. He was
keenly sensitive about the accusations brought against the
Brahmans, and he was awfully angry at the efforts made to
get rid of deputations by this Government ; e.g. he said he
had himself, in answer to the accusation that the Home Rule
movement was a Brahman movement, been among the non-
Brahmans, and had got 800 signatures to a petition, men of
substance, to whom he had spoken on the subject. He got
them to present a petition, which had been refused until the
very night of my arrival. What other interpretation could
be put upon it, except that the Government of Madras wished
to show me that there was no non-Brahman share ? He then
talked about the split between the Moslem League and the
new Islam Association. He said that the Prince of Arcot had
signed the Moslem League representation and had then
afterwards resigned without explanation ; that he had formed
his own association and presented an address nine days after
the last date upon which addresses might be presented, and

December 21] MADRAS 129

that the Government of Madras had accepted it. He is a
lawyer ; he wants both sides of the question argued ; and
the petty way in which they have tried to exclude him has
grated upon him. I asked him point blank what he would
accept. He accepted Sastri’s four criteria, and I am afraid
he would never accept periodic enquiries. What he wants
is a time limit, and there is much more in this time limit than
people really believe. He pathetically said that their con-
fidence in me was everything, and he begged me not to be
persuaded to desert them.

By the by, the Bombay Chronicle and similar papers have
been fools enough to suggest that I am being imprisoned and
dragged in the trail of the Viceroy. I see that the Calcutta
correspondent of the Madras Mail talks about my refusal to
see people in Calcutta and keeping myself confined in my room.
Could any man ever have crammed more into the twenty-four
hours than I have done ? I am here for a purpose ; I have
no time for anything else, and it was only under protest that
I went to the exhibition this afternoon.

The evening was occupied by another dinner party, and I
sat next to Lady Pentland. She told me that Lord Pentland,
as she called him, was the only man she had ever met whose
actions were always dictated by an infallible sense of right and
wrong, and gave me an opening to express my regret at the
pain I had been instrumental in causing them both, and to
say that although I admired the admirable courtesy and
restraint with which they had treated us, I had felt myself
that restraint, and felt sure that the) were wrong in thinking
that their authority had been impaired. I was now much
better able to understand the situation, and although I would
still support the action which Lord Chelmsford had taken in
answer to my suggestion, I saw now why it was so difficult
for the Government of Madras to understand it. If we had
questioned their decision to intern Mrs. Besant, then their
authority would have been outraged. We had endorsed it,

1 3 o AN INDIAN DIARY [December 21

but we had regarded her release as a separate problem, and,
as Lord Crewe had said in the House of Lords, I think, only
to be contemplated when some political occurrence made an
alteration of the circumstances. We had believed, and did
believe, that that political occurrence was to be found in the
announcement of August 20, but now that I saw how the
officials of Madras agreed with Lord Pentland in attaching
no importance to the announcement, and regarded it as a
mistake and thought that, even now, it entailed no action,

I could easily understand why they thought that the Mrs.
Besant release was a reversal of their policy. She assured me
that she found from experience that Lord Pentland’s judgment
was always right. I said that I had no doubt whatever in
my own mind that it might be necessary to intern Mrs.
Besant again ; that even then the fact that we had released
her unconditionally would not alter my judgment as to its
being a good thing to try. She said she was glad that they
had not resigned ; but I am afraid I did not do much
good.

Saturday , December 22. After an early breakfast we had
our last remaining interviews. We began with a native
clergyman, now at a large college, named Ponnayya, who
dealt chiefly with order in schools, and said that as he was
backed up by the University Senate, whose warning against
strikes had been successful, there was no difficulty in enforcing
order. He does not want violent changes.

Then there followed a very interesting and very attractive
man, the Rev. Macphail, of the Madras Christian College,
which I remember particularly as one of the best colleges
in India. He had been mined on the Mongolia , and had
lost three fingers of his right hand in getting into the sea,
and had been ten hours in an open boat. He is a member of
the Senate of the University, and thought that the danger of
the colleges from strikes was over. The great trouble has been

MADRAS

December 22]

! 3i

caused partly by Mrs. Besant’s propaganda and partly by the
fact that the head of the school was an untouchable, and his
influence was resented by the Brahmans, but he was being
supported and had really scored a victory. The demand for
fiscal liberty he talked about very much, and the difficulty
of granting it.

He was followed by Mr. Kandaswami Chetti, Editor of the
Social Reform Advocate , who claimed to be the man who had
started the Curtis scheme of dyarchy and was a thorough
supporter of it, but an opponent of Home Rule or of Brahman
influence.

Then there came Diwan Bahadur Deskika Achariyar, who
was Chairman of the District Board of Trichinopoly, and is
now Municipal Chairman of Trichinopoly. He also wanted
compartmental transfer, but wanted a Second Chamber
nominated. He did not understand the grievance of the
non-Brahmans. He has a great record of public service,
and during the four years he had been Chairman of the
District Board of Trichinopoly he had made many non-
Brahman appointments. He told us an amusing story of
a co-operative credit society managed by a village committee,
two of which were Brahmans, two non-Brahman caste Hindus,
and two Panchamas. When they met in deliberation they
all sat on different levels so that the air from one did not pollute
the others ! They discussed business freely together, and
the Panchamas usually carried the day. This contrasted
very well with Macphail’s story of having seen in a west
coast town a Panchama approach a store kept by a Brahman,
put his money on the ground outside the shop, and shout
out what he wanted. The shopkeeper came out and took
up the money and put down the goods, which the Panchama
removed. Great difficulties apparently are occurring because
Panchamas are forbidden to use roads which are paid for by
the municipality. Achariyar has under him some Taluk
Boards which are presided over by officials. This has at

132

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 22

present led to no friction, but he thinks that the Taluk Boards
must also have a non-official system.

Afterwards we saw a delightful, courteous, old man,
Venkataratnam Nayudu Garu, principal of a college at
Pittapur. He had not much to say, except that he would
accept the Curtis scheme, but he wanted communal representa-
tion. He was a delightful, loyal, old man, who began his
interview with a prayer for Chelmsford’s and my health, for
long life to the King, and the continued existence of the
British Raj.

Then we went down to the harbour and saw the damage
done by the cyclone. It just shows how dangerous it is to
take things on trust. Admiral Gaunt has sent home and
supported a request by Sir Francis Spring for a steel caisson
to repair the damage. Spring’s request was pathetic. It
contains these words : “ It seems to me that a very dispropor-
tionate outlook is indicated when, for lack of a paltry 230
tons of steel — as I said, only one-fourth the weight of one
trawler — the very existence of a port of the importance
commercially, and potential importance strategically, of that
of Madras is subject to the risk of being wiped out of exist-
ence.” I quote also the last paragraph : “ Meanwhile I
am sitting here helpless, with my valuable specialist foremen
and engineers half idle, just trying, in what may conceivably
prove a quite futile manner, to keep the damaged breakwater
from cutting back further. Had the caisson arrived as
expected in September of this year, the damage would have
been made good, once and for all, by the end of April, 1918.
Now, at best, it will be a year later, and, unless something
is done on the lines suggested for expediting the manufacture
and supply of the caisson, anything may happen, even to the
wiping out of the port.” His appeal had been fervently
supported by Pentland. When I got there and saw it, I
discovered that they were busy at work with a temporary
erection independent of steel which would make the harbour

MADRAS

December 22 ]

*33

safe for a year, and might make it safe for twenty years.
These sort of appeals for priority vitiate the whole reception
of all India’s claims, and I could not help feeling and speaking
very severely about it. I could understand Spring’s anxiety.
He has grown up with the harbour ; he wants to go home and
feel that it is secure. He helped practically to build it on
the flat coast of Madras. Now he has a 200-acre harbour
protected from all winds, but it will have to be much extended,
as the sand silts up from the south. This will take place, he
calculates, in about sixty years, by which time he hopes the
debt will have been amortised. It has grown much since
I was here last, and was well worth seeing. I should think
there must be few of its kind. Spring claims to know the
Indians very well, and has forwarded a scheme with his views
on reform, which I have not yet read.

After seeing the harbour, we went to the fort, and saw the
interesting old church, with its records of reminiscences of
the Duke of Wellington, Milton, Clive, and so on.

Then home to lunch, and a considerable meeting with my
colleagues. We agreed to send the House of Lords scheme
and the scheme for Governors and Lieutenant-Governors
for the consideration of Chelmsford. We had some talk
about the conference at Delhi of non-official Indians, and
made a little progress. Seton is to write a memorandum. I
am convinced that unless we form a nucleus to support us, we
shall never get our scheme through. There is great agi cation
already about a scheme which asks the Indians to be treated
as schoolboys, getting a little more each time their school-
masters say that they may have it. Of course, that is not my
meaning. I do not doubt their ability to work representative
institutions. Other countries have done it, and I think
Indians can ; but until they have learned the customs,
conventions, traditions, and uses which are inseparable from
representative institutions, and which cannot be embodied
in any Act of Parliament, the transfer of powers of law and

134

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 22

order to them will lead to anarchy, revolution, bloodshed
and starvation, which has resulted in Russia. It is this use
of power which they must be taught, which they must learn
by experience, and which we cannot risk. I cannot see that
there is anything offensive in telling them this, and I have
asked Mr. Franey to make a note of this for use when I come
to begin the writing of the matter for our report. A nucleus
of people who will support us, provided our scheme conforms
to certain principles which we shall announce, is essential,
otherwise I do not see how I can assure the Cabinet that our
scheme will be worked by any section in India.

Then we went to the station, said good-bye, and started
off for Bombay, the last place where we shall receive evidence.
On the train I had some talk with Chelmsford. I told him
that Halliday had told me of an article in Capital , pointing
out that I had completely won the hearts of the boxwallahs
in Calcutta and restored their confidence, but that they feared
that the influence of Charles Roberts on the way home might
lead me astray again !

I had some talk with Chelmsford about our report —
assuming agreement what we were to say in our report.
Marris is to set to work to draft the skeleton. I had some
talk with Marris about it, and he is now closeted with the
Viceroy. I raised some of the matters I wanted included :
Chelmsford objected to none of them. I want to lay stress
on the* social difficulties ; upon the possible necessity of
geographical re-arrangement ; upon the position of the
Indian Civil Service, both in order to save them from scurrilous
attacks and to give them the guiding line of what they must
do in the future. I want to say something about fiscal
systems, and I am going off with Franey into the jungle to
write this stuff the last week in January or early in February
for Chelmsford’s approval. All this, of course, pre-supposes
agreement upon our recommendations. I am quite certain
that in all those services which Indians do not control we have

MADRAS

December 22 ]

l 3S

got to use the Standing Committee thoroughly, so that we
shall see control with the co-operation of, and not without
explanation to, Indians — Standing Committees in the Legisla-
tive Councils, Standing Committees from the District
Boards associated with the district officers, and so on.

All this pre-supposes agreement about what we are going
to do, and that depends upon :

1. Their application on the agreed principles ;

2. Their taking my Enabling Bill scheme ; and

3. Reform of the Government of India, which does not look
any more promising.

I leave Madras with a very heavy heart. It seems to me
hopeless. Here, if anywhere, officials administrate and do
not govern ; here, if anywhere, they refuse to explain them-
selves and hold themselves aloof ; here, if anywhere, they
misuse powers, either their Press Act or their powers to dis-
allow resolutions and Bills. Here they have caused their
own situation. Madras is not the same place that it was five
years ago. Brahmans and non-Brahmans, English and
Indians — all have been set at loggerheads. We must have a
vigorous Governor for Madras. Pentland does not know
what is going on in his own Province. How can he know ?
He never discusses politics with these people. After all,
as Ramaswami Aiyar told us, no Viceroy touring has ever given
opportunities to people to give their political views. Willing-
don, I should think, was the only exception, to apply this to
Governors. It has had an enormous educative effect on
political creeds. I know they will accuse me of breaking
faith with them if I agree anything with the Government of
India, and that makes it all the more necessary why, after
this education, I should not desert them. I cannot hope
that they will not say I have not broken faith with them, but
I want particularly to try and avoid it having any justification
in fact.

Pentland, thin, whiskered, in tightly-buttoned frock-coat,

136 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 22

large gardenia-like flower in his buttonhole, saw us off on the
platform, looking what he is — an early Victorian Governor in
post-War India.

Sunday , December 23. I am confirmed in my belief that
the reasons which make self-government impossible in this
country now are not really distrust or unfitness or lack of
ability or want of character. Unfortunately, there are some
people, many people, who agree on this fact that self-govern-
ment is impossible now, but agree because they despise the
Indian, and it must be quite clear that we do not agree with
them. What we want, as I have said before, is a growth of
those conventions and customs and habits of representative
government, without the acquisition of which democracy
cannot stand, without the cultivation of which representative
institutions are an expression of something which does not
exist. Now it is, I hold, a tenable proposition that rather
than wait for the growth of these conventions, which no Act
of Parliament can produce, but which Indians have as much
chance or certainty of acquiring as any other nation, we might
give them a chance at once to work out their destiny. Chaos,
revolution and bloodshed will occur, but the result years
afterwards might be a more vigorous, more healthy, more
self-created than the plant we have in view. The only trouble
about it is that India, the most invaded country in the world,
would .soon once more be despoiled by a still vigorous
Germany, or an ambitious Japan, and England would certainly
reconquer the country rather than permit this to occur, and
then the delicately-nurtured plant of education, still now in a
critical condition, would have absolutely disappeared.

That is why we must stick to the first alternative, the
policy of August 20, but for heaven’s sake do not let us go
on narrowly and steadfastly cultivating some fields through
multitudes of harvests while we leave the jungle uncultivated
and unexplored. As I have said before, our opportunities

MADRAS

137

December 23]

in India which we have taken are equalled only by the oppor-
tunities which we have missed. Cultivation of the co-
operation of the people is the chief one that we have missed.
Avoidance of wounding their pride is part of this plan ;
spreading wide our boon, so as not to produce a favoured
few, is another one.

Chelmsford tells me that he thinks he will have to take
action about Mrs. Besant’s speech, and promised to tell me
what he is going to do when he has made up his mind.
Perhaps it is as well that I should not know. I had thought
of writing her, regretting the strength of some of her language,
but I fear it will be no good. There will, of course, be an
outburst again of anger at her release, and jeers that my visit
has not produced a calm atmosphere, and that she has violated
her pledges.

I had some talk with Basu. He is a wicked old man
because he does not read the documents that are given to
him, and 1 had to explain over and over again plans that he
ought already to have found in his papers. He does not
like a separate Cabinet, nor does he want responsibility to
the elected members, because he does not feel that until a
party system is evolved any useful purpose would be served.

I think we shall have to be very careful in our nomenclature.
What we are really going to do is to have one Cabinet with
two Committees, one Cabinet with members in two Houses,
the two Houses having different functions. It is really the
Congress scheme of elected members of the Executive
Council, only although they are quasi-elected in the sense that
House of Commons Ministers are quasi-elected, they will not
be responsible for the decisions of the Executive Council,
although sitting with them for some purposes. Of course
nothing will be said about their being dismissible by the
Legislative Assembly ; they will be appointed for the life-
time of a Council. Basu urged that they should not be paid
so much as previously ; I assented to this. Basu urged that

138 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 23

the two Houses should have power of legislating on their
own subjects independently, but should make recom-
mendations to one another on each other’s subjects, either
by legislation or by resolution requiring the assent of the
other House. I assented to this. Basu tells me that when
he was a boy, about forty-five years ago, although his village
was only thirty-two miles from Calcutta, it was impossible to
go from one place to the other without great risk of life, and
he knew very respectable men who went the greater part of
the journey stark naked in order to show the dacoits that they
had no money on them. He told me this story to emphasise
the fact that the young men of to-day forgot the many things
that they owed to British rule.

We lunched at Shahabad, in Hyderabad territory, with old
Farrideeonje. Before arriving, Fraser, the Resident, came
to see me, and we spent about a quarter of an hour in the train
together.

December 24]

V

BOMBAY

Monday, December 24. We reached Bombay at 8.30 this
morning, just as I finished dictating my diary for the previous
day. We were greeted by Freeman, and drove through
small crowds to Government House. I think Government
House, Bombay, is one of the most beautiful spots in the
world. A long, heavily-wooded drive leads to a collection
of the most beautiful little bungalows, with white walls, large
verandahs, red roofs nestling round what is called the State
Bungalow, with its big dining-room and ball-room. The
Viceroy and I occupy one bungalow. My bedroom is in
the centre part of it, and round the rectangular building
is my dressing-room, my bath-room, my breakfast-room, my
sitting-room and my office, all tastefully furnished in Lady
Willingdon’s favourite mauve and white. It is up on a
height, and outside is the sea, facing east, with sea sunsets
that have got to be seen to be believed. Donoughmore is
even nearer the sea, lower down, and Parsons is on the same
level as myself. The warmth, the lack of formality of the
greeting of Lady Willingdon and dear old Freeman J How
Lady Willingdon keeps her vitality 1 cannot understand. It
is a wonderful thing. She comes to see if we are comfortable
at all hours of the day ; she alters the disposition of our
luggage, and objects to our buttonholes. But aloofness is
reduced here to a minimum, and I wish this spirit could be
conveyed everywhere. Naturally, Willingdon has had no
trouble with his people, but so much depends upon person-
ality, which cannot always be reproduced.

We went to the Durbar Hall to receive deputations at ten,

i39

140 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 24

After a hectic breakfast, all talk, and a round of visits to one
another, conducted by our hostess. Lady Willingdon’s and
Donoughmore’s affectionate embrace reminded one of other
scenes and other places. Nothing could have been more
comfortable or more expeditious than this wearisome reception
of addresses. We received no less than ten formal addresses
before lunch in the greatest comfort. Between each we retired
to our little sitting-room, and actually found that we each
had a little lavatory on either side of it in a tent adjoining that
of my adlati. The addresses were marked by the extra-
ordinary cleverness with which they were drawn — a very
high level indeed. The majority were Congress League
schemes, the usual problems of communal representation,
and one of them actually suggested proportional representa-
tion worked out in detail. This came from the non-official
members of the Legislative Council, the first Legislative
Council that has presented us with an address. It is due to
the influence of one man, R. P. Paranjpye, who was a little
my senior at Cambridge. Paranjpye was senior wrangler,
and is now head of a college of about 1,025 boys at Poona.
He is a member of the Congress, but not a Home Rule
Leaguer, and he is doing his best to keep his boys from
politics. We could make no impression on this deputation,
who demanded the Congress Moslem League scheme.
Jinnah was as able as ever, but failed to impress the Viceroy.
He certainly impresses me. To my amazement, the Viceory
told him, in the presence of the deputation, about Nair
having said that bombs would result if Shaukat Ali and
Mohamed Ali were continued in internment, and then
refused to discuss it. We did not do any good, but we had
one and a quarter hours with them, followed by some
Mohammedans, who professed allegiance to the Moslem
League scheme, but did not seem very happy about it in
cross-examination.

Then a game of tennis. Lady Willingdon is very good,

BOMBAY

December 24]

141

but it was far, far hotter than I had found it at Madras, and I
could not play more than one set.

In the evening I had a talk with Paranjpye, who showed us
his scheme of proportional representation. Of course this
is a way out of many difficulties, if they will only accept it.
He said there was only the choice between proportional
representation and an extension of communal representation.
As regards Mohammedans, he wants them to have their
separate electorate, with proportional representation in it.

Afterwards we had a long talk with Curtis. I tried to
show the Viceroy some of the difficulties of the Curtis scheme
in Curtis’s presence. It only serves to strengthen my opinion
as to the merits of my own scheme, which will, of course,
as I have often said, be regarded as Curtis’s scheme.

Out of this interview, and a little talk that Chelmsford
and I had together on our verandah in our dressing-gowns
when everybody had gone to bed, I modify not my scheme
but the nomenclature of it. Really the Governor shall have
one Ministry working in two committees, one a committee
for A subjects, working in the Upper House, and the other a
committee on B subjects working in the Lower House. The
Budget and things common to both shall be decided by
joint sittings, the Governor deciding on points of conflict
between them. This really goes very near, except for the
two Houses, to the Congress scheme with half the members
of the Executive Council elected, except that neither is
responsible for the decisions of the other, and, of course, the
B Committee cannot hold office if it loses the confidence of
the Lower House. It is agreed between us that the Governor
should be constitutional as regards B subjects but interfering,
the last word being with the B Committee.

Curtis wants to root out all the civil servants, and to allow
them to start with civil servants of their own as soon as they
have formed it. I am sure they are not fit for that yet. I
do not think Curtis was very pleased with these modifications,

i 4 2 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 24

but we are going to have another talk with him on Christmas
evening.

The dinner was large, and I sat between Lady Willingdon
and Mrs. Carmichael, the wife of one of the members of
Willingdon’s Council, whom I had dined with when I was
here last.

I have just been cheered by the news of a mail on Saturday,
which will not give me much time because the outward mail
goes on Sunday.

I had some talk with Carmichael, who prefers the Meyer
scheme to the Brunyate scheme, but likes neither and loathes
all change. He is more like Madras than Bombay. Free-
man is an enthusiastic believer in my idea of a small meeting
of people who are to form the nucleus of a supporting organisa-
tion to be supported by the Government, and to be a go-
between between the Government and Indian public opinion,
and to send a deputation to England. Chelmsford also is
liking it, and I suggested a civil servant to be deputed to
keep in touch with them. He suggested Marris. I said I
wanted Marris to come home with me, and I suggested
Gourlay. Chelmsford is anxious as to the reception of our
scheme, because he has had a letter from Curzon asking that
nothing new should be sent home !

Christmas Day , December 2$. This morning is Christmas
morning, a lovely, coolish day, with the sea looking more
beautiful than ever. There has been a great interchange of
presents. Lady Willingdon has sent me pictures of herself
and her husband ; Lord Donoughmore has given me Stewart
Baker’s book on Indian Ducks, which I love to possess ;
Alan has given me a cigar case, and Lord Chelmsford a
cigarette case with the Viceroy’s initials on one side and my
own on the other.

I have had a long talk with Jinnah. He began by referring
to Shaukat Ali and Mohamed Ali. He assured me that

BOMBAY

December 25]

H3

he believed in the good faith of the Government, and their
anxiety to release them, and their belief in the evidence which
prevents them doing so which Mohamed Ali and Shaukat
Ali say is forged. He said that he advocated their release,
either on the assurance of people like himself and Mahmuda-
bad, or their trial by a secret court, or the publication of the
evidence against them. He assured me that he had not
meant to threaten, but only to tell us, as was his duty, the
consequences that were likely to occur with the growing
feeling and belief that they were innocent men. I told him
that I had no jurisdiction in the matter, that I would not
interfere and I would not discuss it ; that I always believed
it was right for the Government of India to explain all their
actions and to satisfy public opinion of their reasons for taking
them, but I should go no further than to say this, that I was
quite certain that in this case they were acting rightly in
finding themselves unable to do this.

He then urged me to have a conference at Delhi at which
I would take leaders of public opinion into my confidence.
I should think he gets this idea from Basu. I seized the
opportunity to say that I could not have people there whose
motives were revenge or love of agitation, and I asked what
guarantee I had of my confidence being respected. He asked
me : Did I believe in him ? He said he had never abused
anybody’s confidence about Mohamed Ali and Shaukat Ali,
and that I might rely implicitly upon his assistance in all
matters, provided he was satisfied as to the scheme. Could
not I even now give him some indications ? I then told
him that, in my belief, Curtis was on the right lines, but that
the objections to Curtis were :

1. That he confused reforms with geographical re-distri-
bution ;

2. That he did not make sufficient machinery for avoidance
of friction between A subjects and B subjects ;

144 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 25

3. That he sketched no certain plan of development from
a system under which in some subjects the Indians
get more than the Congress and Moslem League
scheme and in others much less to a system under
which they get as much on all subjects as they do
on some. I believed that I should be advocating
the best scheme for India if I could get over these
difficulties.

He assented, with two additions :

1. That Curtis’s scheme did not touch the Government
of India ; and

2. That something would have to be done to put this on a
better footing.

I asked him whether this difficulty would be removed if,
keeping the control of the British Government unimpaired, a
beginning was made in what was to develop into an Indian
Parliament for all Indian affairs, coupled with Provincial
autonomy. He said that he had hoped for more, but was
quite prepared to accept this.

He then begged that, in order to make the thing more
acceptable, something should be done with the outstanding
Indian grievances ; their existence was a reason for asking
for constitutional reforms which, if they were swept away,
would not be so eagerly demanded. I asked him what the
grievances were, and he said :

1. Arms Act.

2. Fiscal liberty.

3. Judicial and executive.

4. Abolition of racial distinctions.

5. Modification of coercive legislation.

I said with regard to the latter that we had too much to
do to make it possible for us to go into detail in regard to
it , that it was quite out of the question to look forward in

BOMBAY

December 1 5]

*45

the near future either to relying entirely on the ordinary
processes of the law as we knew it now to deal with the un-
doubted anarchist conspiracies which existed, or to make it
possible to give India complete liberty of the Press. He
agreed, but thought there might be an exploration made
under which the views of Indians could be heard on some
of the provisions, and at any rate the use made both of the
Press Act and the Internment Act. I said that nothing could
be done in either of these directions to modify the power of
the Executive during the War. This closed the conversation,
with an assurance that he was at our service at all times,
and that the scheme which I had outlined would completely
satisfy him. I said that I would remind him that I had
given him no scheme ; that I had merely taken him into my
confidence as to some of my beliefs ; that everything I had
said was guarded by “ ifs ” ; that our discussions, when we
had finished the evidence, would reveal to me how far these
“ ifs ” could be realised. I know how excellent Lord Chelms-
ford’s judgment is about men. I wish I could believe that
Jinnah was anxious to do everything in his power to help us
on these lines. After all, roughly sketched like this his
policy is so like mine.

Christmas morning I spent in writing. In the afternoon
we motored out some twelve miles to a large artificial lake
at Vehar, which produces some of the water for use in Bom-
bay. The road there was very lovely through jungle, and
the lake itself is extraordinarily beautiful. Some excitement
was provided by the fact that we had rifles, and crocodiles were
seen, but anybody who has ever shot these animals must
realise the futility of proceeding after them with people
talking at the top of their voices in creaky rowing boats.
We had tea and came home.

We had some talk with the police, who are very anxious
for a definite announcement of policy and the stopping of
all agitation for alternative plans.

146 . AN INDIAN DIARY [December 25

A small Christmas party, with a little bridge afterwards,
and then a long consultation with the Viceroy on the subject
of Persia ended the day. The Germans have put us into
rather a quandary by pledging themselves and the Turks
not to invade Persia, and promising to withdraw Russian
troops. It seems to me always so disastrous that Great
Britain has been forced by Anglo-Russian diplomacy into
a position of hostility to Persian democrats. The historic
part of Great Britain is to befriend national aspirations. I
am not sure that in the East, at any rate, we have not forgotten
this, and our policy of disruption and control over Persia
must react upon Indian opinion. I would, therefore, with-
draw our troops. We can always send them back again if
there is any sign that the Germans were breaking their word,
and I think anyhow that the risk must be run. But the
Government in England are financing and assisting the
counter-revolutionary party in South-East Russia. It makes
it impossible, therefore, apparently to withdraw our troops
from Persia, for Persia and Mesopotamia must eventually,
one would hope, unite with this effort if it is successful,
although I should have thought from here that it bore very
small chances of success ; and if I am right in believing that
it involves our keeping troops in Persia, the German ruse of
putting us into a quandary will have been successful. The
Government of India agree, but I think their telegram was a
very bad one, and I re-drafted it. I am not sure it is much
better, but there it is.

Wednesday , December 2 6. The morning of the 26th was
spent in ten more deputations. The feature which has been
remarkable in Bombay is the very high level of these addresses.
They are very well drawn, very carefully prepared, and far
better than anything else I have seen. No wonder, in my
opinion, that people are inclined to go further in Bombay
than they are anywhere else. I would especially mention

BOMBAY

December 26]

H7

the address of the Bombay Presidency Association. If it
were not for the one difficulty of their finding men, I would
not have the slightest hesitation in giving Bombay complete
responsible Government — not the slightest. But it is interest-
ing to note that even people who are more or less extreme in
policy do not like any responsibility. They want power to
make their resolutions binding on the existing Executive,
but they do not wish to take over the work of the Executive.

I sympathise with them. I think they are genuinely afraid,
although Chelmsford will not listen, that we are trying to
force responsibility on them in order to show that they are
no use. On the other hand, I do not see how they are ever
to learn to exercise responsibility unless some responsibility
is given to them now.

It was not a good day for our scheme, because so far as I
could see nobody would look at it. Sir Dinshaw Wacha and
Mr. Samarth, who came in the afternoon, were nice people,
but they were genuinely afraid of responsibility. So also
were the respresentatives of the Deccan Sabha, headed by a
nice old Parsi named Wadya. Altogether they said, “ Give
us the power to pass resolutions, to influence Government ;
we will use it in a spirit of sweet reasonableness, but we are
not fit for responsible government.” And yet when anyone
else argues that they are not fit, people like Jinnah say that
you are insulting their nationality.

I am beginning to wonder whether I shall not modify our
scheme by putting both halves of the Government into the
same Chamber instead of two. However, that will be seen
when we get to Delhi.

I went for an hour in the afternoon to the race meeting.
It was very pleasant ; it is so nice to do these things in beauti-
ful weather, and I investigated the inside of, and learned the
mechanism of, the totalizator. It has a tremendous advantage,
it seems to me. Not only is the machinery highly ingenious
and almost securable against breakdown ; not only does it

148 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 26

work here without any friction, but it has the advantage over
the pari-mutuel of disclosing to the public how the betting
is going. It makes it necessary to bet in ready money ; it
gives the proper odds instead of odds bookmakers can afford.
It destroys all the paraphernalia of bookmakers and the sordid
side of racing, added to which it gives substantial profits to
the Government, or in this case to War charities, and
certainly has much to commend it. If only we would
not at home pretend that betting did not exist or that it was
curable 1

Dinner was at the Byculla Club. A dinner of some one
hundred people in a very pleasant building with an attractive
dining-room, remarkable for the fact that it is so conservative
that it has no punkahs in it, but only coolies waving fans.
It was pleasant enough. I sat between the chairman, Sir
John Heaton, a judge, and Mesant, the engineer of the Port
Trust.

Saturday , December 27. We started this morning with an
interview with the representatives of the Deccan Ryots’
Association, with their demands for many forms of communal
representation, and their general support of the Congress
and Moslem League scheme, which did not go very far when
we examined it. On the other hand, they were full of fear
of a Brahman autocracy.

Then we had Rai Bahadur Dougre on behalf of the
depressed classes. He was a very nice fellow, taking a great
interest in the depressed classes. He is a caste Hindu, and
he brought with him two untouchables, who struck me,
although one did not speak English, by their extraordinary
intelligence. He thinks that communal representation for
them is necessary, and I believe he would make a very useful
moderate man of the kind that I am looking for.

There followed Mr. Setalvad, the Vice-Chancellor of
Bombay University, an extremely clever lawyer and a very

BOMBAY

149

December 27]

nice fellow, who argued extraordinarily well. We put before
him the whole of our scheme, and he has gone away to think
over it, I think favourably.

After lunch we saw the Parsis, who had nothing much to
say ; the Talukdars and Sardars of Gujarat, who want to be
made ruling princes, and claimed that their history allows of
it ; and then we had a long talk with Chandavarkar, who I
think would also support us. He is a most impressive and
very nice fellow, and has done splendid work for the depressed
classes. I did not put to him the whole of my scheme, but I.
propose to do so before I leave Bombay.

Then we saw Rahimtulla, who, of course, is trembling on
the verge of the Executive Council. I did not find him as
clever as people say he is, but I am perfectly prepared to
take their verdict in preference to my own.

In the afternoon I drove round the Port with Freeman.
He is rather unhappy about our scheme, which he thinks goes
too far.

In the evening there was a quiet dinner. Freeman and
his wife went to a show at the theatre, and we played bridge
and went to bed early.

I find that Chelmsford is a much more eager convert to
my scheme than I am myself. I am a little doubtful about
it, because some people really feel that they are not fit for
any responsibility yet. However, I am sure it is the best
going.

Friday , December 28. I have had to-day the most strenuous
day I have had in Bombay. I got up early and drove with
Freeman to see the Parel Institute, which I had seen five
years ago. Leston is still in charge, and it is a most interesting
show. It is here that all the anti-plague vaccine is made for
India, and it is the biggest research laboratory that they have
got. They propose to add to it eventually a Pasteur Institute.
Situated in old Government House, it is now being used

[50 AN INDIAN DIARY {December 2 8

largely for enteric cases in order that all people who have
had enteric in the Mesopotamia area can be examined to
see if they are carriers of enteric. They are all, of course,
convalescents, and I wandered round and talked to some of
them.

Then we saw experiments being carried on with regard
to bilharzia, for fear of its being imported from Egypt, but
apparently at present the snails which contain the worm are
not the same species, and the worms they contain have not
the same results. One of these snails contains a parasite
which, if put into a glass with a few fish, acts so quickly that
it kills the fish in twenty minutes. We saw some experiments
on guinea pigs, and some experiments that were being tried
as to the best rat poison and the best form of rat trap. Leston
seems to me to jump at conclusions on statistics compiled
from too few experiments. You cannot tell what proportion
of rat traps are good, I should have thought, from just
one hundred traps ; the next one hundred might give a
totally different proportion. We also saw again the fascinat-
ing performance of extracting venom from snakes by making
them bite into a glass basin and then feeding them on egg
flip and putting them away for a week. I cannot under-
stand why there are not more accidents. It is only bites
from Russell’s viper and the cobra which can be cured,
but the cure is certain if taken in time. The poison is mixed,
injected into a horse, and the serum obtained from the horse
is potent against either snake ; but if the serum is prepared
from only one poison it is not. The Lauder Brunton tube
is a very doubtful experiment. Potassium permanganate
does not always act, and the wound caused by the lancet
may be more poisonous than the snake bite itself.

Back late to breakfast, which we had hastily, and then
dealt with various Mohammedan deputations.

The interesting part of the discussions occurred when we
came face to face with the separation of Sind. The Sind

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December 28]

151

Provincial Conference, which came on behalf of the Congress
Moslem League scheme, wants the abolition of the Com-
missioner of Sind pending the creation of a special Province.
They do not want a special Province at present because of
the expense. The Sind Mohammedan Association, which
is conservative, wants Sind separated as soon as possible and
meanwhile the Commissioner kept. It is undoubtedly true
that Sind gives more funds to Bombay than Bombay gives
to Sind.

A large luncheon party was the next strenuous effort. I
sat next to Mrs. Egan, an American journalist, who has been
to all the theatres of War, and is a great admirer of British
rule and British achievements in Mesopotamia. She was
even in Constantinople, and told me that all the population
wanted the victory of the English at the time, and hoped we
should get through to Constantinople. She told me a lot
about the Philippines, in which she had lived, and said that
responsible government there had been an appalling failure,
and we ought to take an object-lesson from it. The
backward tribes there are still administered directly by the
American Bureau.

Keatinge, the Director of Agriculture, wants our scheme,
and would welcome an Indian member presiding over
agriculture, which amused me, as Freeman, who presides
over agriculture himself, says that he could never get on if
anybody but himself had that department ; an % Indian
would be quite impossible. Keatinge struck me as very
promising.

But I had a severe blow when we saw Stanley Reed 1 in the
evening. Sir Stanley Reed, to whom I described my scheme
in detail, objects to it altogether. He wants complete
authority on all subjects by the Legislative Council, subject
to the veto ; my scheme would produce apathy and would
not strike any imagination, and has no chance of success.
The only subject he would reserve would be the police. As,

1 Editor of the Times o] India .

I 5 2

AN INDIAN DIARY [December i 8

therefore, there is nothing in principle between us but the
details of the A and B list, I cannot understand his vehemence,
but certainly as Reed is the only progressive journalist in
India his opposition is very, very sad.

In the afternoon I went to tea with Sir Sassoon David and
old Shapoorji Broacha. They are two delightful old men,
living very humbly. I said to Shapoorji, “ Are you still in
business ? ” He said, “ Yes, I cannot see any more, so I
work.” “ You must be making a lot of money ? ” “ Yes,”

he replied, “ all India is.” Lady Willingdon tells me that
whenever she asks them for money they give it. Shapoorji
has put a special fund apart for assisting distressed Europeans
home. He has made all his money, he said, by the kindness
of the Europeans, and he wants to help them.

Then Lady Willingdon, who came to fetch me there,
drove with me to see Lady Ali Shah, the mother of Aga Khan.
She lives in a very nice house on the sea, and she has the most
beautiful Persian china I have ever seen in my life. I am
the first male that she has seen socially except Lord
Willingdon. She sat very nervously, holding Lady Willingdon
by both hands, but she is a dear old lady, and she and Lady
Willingdon seem to be the greatest friends, kissing one
another at intervals. She asked for news of her son, whom
she longs to see out here. She is very fond of his son, and I
cannot think why he does not bring him out. She hears
from him by telegram every week, but she is quite ignorant
of his serious illness. She rode down from Baghdad through
Persia, taking with her, as a condition of the permission to
come, bundles of leaflets which she promised to distribute,
but which she burnt. Of course she is a great figure in
Mesopotamia and related to the ruling people of Persia.
Her courage is extraordinary. She was really most delightful
to me ; presented me with a large basket of flowers, and one
of those decorative necklaces of tinsel — all the old courtesies,
and I enjoyed my twenty minutes there very much.

BOMBAY

*53

December 28]

Then came Reed, whose interview I have already des-
cribed, and we ended up with a dinner party on a large scale
at which I sat next to Mrs. Palmer ; but overwork had at
last told, and I had hastily to leave the table to avoid an
impending fainting fit. However, a long night in bed has
done its work, and I am all right this morning.

Saturday , December 29. This morning I did not go to
the Zoo as I had intended, for my health made me think it
was desirable to take it easy ; so I did nothing till I saw a
certain Mr. Standen, who is the Commissioner of the Berer
Division. He is in favour of territorial reorganisation of
India in order to avoid linguistic difficulties and the possi-
bility of carrying out procedure in the language of the country
instead of in English. He did not absolutely turn down
our scheme as it stands now, but he was in favour preferably
of standing committees and an elected majority. He is a
fine-looking fellow, and I rather liked him. His suggestion
is for a promise of complete responsible government in thirty
years, “ Not in our time, O Lord.”

Next came a long interview with Mr. Patel of Willingdon’s
Legislative Council. I must say he gave the most startling
incident to show the limitations of discussion which had
goaded these people into their present extreme case. A
resolution in favour of support being given to the indigenous
School of Medicine had not been allowed by the Jlombay
Government as being contrary to the public interests. On
the Finance Committee he had moved fifty resolutions for
the reduction of expenditure ; they were all disallowed by
the Finance member on the ground that they dealt with
existing services ; it was only the unallotted expenditure
that they could discuss. He asked for the minutes, as he
was a member of the Finance Committee. He was refused
them on the ground that they might get into unauthorised
hands. He attempted to move a resolution asking that

154

AN INDIAN DIARY [December 29

discussion of the allotted expenditure might be allowed on
the Finance Committee ; it was disallowed because it was not
in the public interest. He brought in a Bill to allow for
optional adoption of compulsory education ; it was disallowed,
and so on. He is obviously the most talkative member of
the Council .

Next we had Fazulbhoy Currimbhoy, a Mohammedan
member of Chelmsford’s Council — loquacious, a disciple of
the Aga Khan’s and rather like him, believing in a Second
Chamber and a Royal Viceroy, and binding resolutions. He
would not look at departmental work distinction, and got
sulky about it. He is on the Industrial Commission.

After spending some time in dictating stuff for the mail, I
had in the evening an interview with Mr. Chitale, who had
very little to say ; and he was followed by old Chaubal, who
was a member of the Islington Commission, and is now a
member of Willingdon’s Executive Council. He really
asked for an interview with me because he has a pension
grievance which raises quite a nice point of law. I thought
he had come on reforms, and asked Chelmsford to see him
with me. I found out afterwards that he was astonished
to see Chelmsford, had come armed with Civil Service Regu-
lations, etc., and came out very badly because he had obviously
not read the papers on reforms. Really the Home Depart-
ment has muddled this thing frightfully. The famous Marris
letter, over which we quarrelled at Calcutta, is a long document
which ought to have been printed plentifully and several
copies sent to each local government. They only got one,
and have all had to reprint it in order that their members
may see it.

In the evening I dined at the Orient Club, which is the
oldest Indian and English Club in India. Willingdon and
I went, and there was a large gathering, mainly Indians.
Chaubal presided, and I sat between him and Fazulbhoy
Currimbhoy. My health was proposed in a read speech by

BOMBAY

December 29]

l SS

Chaubal, marred by a vehement attack upon the Byculla
Club for not admitting Indian guests to its dinner the other
night. Chaubal had been asked to entertain Basu, as he
could not come. I chaffed English and Indians on their res-
pective views of me ; held up the Bombay Chronicle to ridicule
for stating that the public had been disappointed at my
refusal to go to the races ; and ended up with a plea for the
settlement of this matter by co-operation between all races.
I paid a tribute to Chelmsford and a warm one to Willingdon,
who received a perfect ovation. It was all most successful,
and I was rather flattered to receive a request from the Com-
mittee to become an honorary member of the Club. I have
also agreed to become a life member of the Willingdon
Sports Club.

After dinner I played bridge with Sir Ibrahim Rahim-
toolah, Sir Fazulbhoy Currimbhoy, and Sir Jamsetjee Jejee-
bhoy, hot stuff I can tell you. Old Rahimtoolah plays
marvellously well. We ended the evening, after enjoying
ourselves very much, three rupees to the good. What a pity it
is that this kind of thing cannot be done more often. You
could not have wanted a better game of bridge, and they
were extremely nice.

Sunday , December 30. On Sunday morning I went with
Willingdon and Cadell to the Zoo. I would say that
Bombay Zoo ranks among the best of the fifth-rate Zoos.
This is not a difficult achievement. You want a nice park
or garden, which they certainly have here, and the stock
animals — lions, tigers, elephants, bears, hyenas, etc., etc.,
well caged^ and decently looked after. The trouble is that
here at the Zoo there is nobody with any scientific knowledge,
and no effort is made to collect either local or foreign rarer
and more interesting specimens of animals.

I went to see Lady Willingdon’s home for crippled soldiers,
which is extraordinarily good ; the men are learning car-

156 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 30

pentering, chicken rearing, and so forth. She was told that
they would not live together because of caste difficulties,
and she has found it all nonsense. I think we make of caste
more than we need and do not attempt to solve it ; but I
am appalled by the small scale upon which these things are
being done for the vast number of Indian soldiers. I must
return to the charge on this.

I worked hard at the mail, but at 12.15 Charles Roberts
came to see me to bring to my attention the annoyance of
Willingdon’s Executive Council at not having been consulted
or sent for by us. I explained to him that I thought neither
the local governments nor the Government of India had any
locus standi formally ; I was consulting as to what the Cabinet
should do, and I did not wish them to be bound by anything.

There was a vast luncheon party, and, feeling slack, I got
permission to lunch alone in my room. After lunch, Sir
Sydney Rowlatt, whom I had asked to come out to consider
internees and policy with regard to them after the War, who
arrived by yesterday’s mail, came to see me. He had been
lunching here. He arrived to find it was a holiday ; he had
no money ; nobody had met him from the Home Depart-
ment ; no provision had been made to engage rooms for
him or to find him a servant. I was really very, very angry.
He tells me that he had not been allowed to join the mail at
Marseilles, that he had come all the way from London by
sea, and, had been forty-one days on the water. But he was
in very good spirits, and is a very nice fellow. He looked
miles better than when I saw him in London. I explained
to him that government by means of internment and police
was naturally a delightful method which built up only trouble
probably for our successors, and that I hoped he would
remember what was parliamentarily defensible in listening
to the plan which had been prepared for him by the Govern-
ment out here.

After lunch we went in the launch “ Diamond ” to the

BOMBAY

December 30]

*57

Elephanta Caves, a forty minutes sea journey, interesting
because we passed one of the new American standard ships,
a large four-masted animal which had run on to a reef on
its way down from Karachi. We arrived at the island and
had to walk about two hundred yards along a narrow stone
causeway with intervals between the stones. My head
played me very false, and I have never had a much more
agonising experience, and I was haunted on the island by
the danger of getting back again. The Elephanta Caves
are interesting on a small scale, with very nice carvings in
the rock of the life of Shiva. I particularly liked that Shiva
who cut his wife into fifty-two pieces, only to discover that
he had fifty-two wives ! This is really what happens to
the Government of India when it interns Mrs. Besant.

I came home, did a little more mail, found that Chelmsford
had become a fervent believer in the development of my
scheme, so has Willingdon, so has Donoughmore, so has
Duke. I do not like it as well as my first scheme.

A small dinner party — all men. I sat next to Rowlatt,
and discussed people we knew, and the seriousness of the
poor lawyers we were getting out here. After dinner, Chelms-
ford, Donoughmore, Willingdon and I had quite a merry
game of bridge, and then to bed.

Monday , December 31. This morning Basu came to
breakfast. He is full of a scheme for Second Chambers in
the Local Legislative Councils. 1 am a little afraid this is
top heavy and will be found awkward in the future, but he
has promised to submit it in writing.

Then we had a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce,
which read an extremely good conservative address. The
English in Bombay are far more sensible than any other
English we have met.

After this deputation we received some of the members
of the deputation at an interview, which was very amicable ;

158 AN INDIAN DIARY [December 31

and then we saw the European Association Branch, headed
by Wardlaw Milne, to whose enterprise in cornering steel
plates at the beginning of the War is due the capacity for
repairing ships in Bombay. They presented an extra-
ordinarily good address, with most of which I am in thorough
agreement. They are anxious to make the civil servants
administrators and not politicians, and they would make it
necessary for a civil servant who got further than the chief
secretaryship to dissociate himself from the Civil Service.
They are not opposed to the Curtis scheme. They did not
like official majorities. They want all official positions thrown
open to everybody in India, and the removal of colour bars.
I talked about clubs, and they say there is a movement on
foot to allow Indian guests, but it will be very long in becoming
successful. They agreed that social discontent was at the
bottom of most of this. They do not like the idea of doing
away with the statutory disqualification of a man connected
with a business becoming a member of an Executive Council.
They think it would be possible to get a boxwallah on the
eve of going back for a short term. It was a most useful
talk, and they promised assistance in the formation of a
moderate party.

Afterwards I went to lunch with Chaubal at his house in
the centre of the Indian part of the town.

I came back after lunch, and we had three interviews, about
which J protested to Willingdon — two men from a district
who could hardly speak English and had nothing to say, and
a Mohammedan holy man, who spoke through an interpreter,
and also had nothing to say.

Then I went with Willingdon to see the Gaekwar of Baroda
and the Maharani. They are living in a house belonging
to the Nizam, having lent their house as a hospital, which
the Maharani much resents. They were suffering from
colds and were very snuffy. The Gaekwar quite agrees that
the princes must come in very cautiously or they will get left.

BOMBAY

December 31]

1 59

Back again to an interview with Shapoorji Broacha, with
whom I discussed War Loan. I am quite sure that Meyer is
wrong in thinking that you could not raise War Loan if you
advertised it and appealed, short term securities. I have
suggested the scheme of taking Treasury bills in part payment
if cash was produced also. Broacha wants a War profits
tax. Chelmsford says it is impossible with the existing
machinery in India, and that he has thoroughly thrashed it
out. I think it is a pity, as it would give money for the
reduction of taxation after the War. Then we had a long
interview with Chitnavis, who is a conservative, but has signed
progressive schemes. I thought he lacked courage.

In the evening I dined with E. M. Cook, accounting
officer, who has been in the U.P. Civil Service. Gubbay 1
and Kisch were staying there. The only other members of
the party were Birkett, the commercial man who has been
Sheriff of Bombay, and had a great deal to do with the success
of the War Loan, and Mrs. Cook. We discussed Cambridge
together ; currency, finance, War Loan ; and Gubbay and I
at one period tried to see how much of our Greek and Latin
repetition that we had learned at school we could remember.
I was rather pleased to find that I had remembered almost
the whole of the first piece of the book. Birkett, I knew, was
being knighted on New Year’s Day. I congratulated him
as I left, but he took no notice of my congratulations and
did not understand them. I discovered the next day that
in India nobody is told of the fate in store for them until it
is published in the papers.

Tuesday, January 1. New Year’s Day. We start the
New Year with the usual uninterrupted sunshine, but in
the middle of gloomy War news. I cannot help thinking
that everything seems to me to show the likelihood of the
War petering out now that Russia has set the example. I
hope it may not be so, but once people begin to negotiate

1 M. M. S. Gubbay, C.I.E. (Controller of Currency).

160 AN INDIAN DIARY [January i

with anybody the example may be infectious. Shoals of
telegrams, presents of fruit, New Year’s greetings 1 The
presents of fruit in Bombay are particularly welcome because
of the delicious mangoes, a large red plantain, which out
here is exquisite, and a peculiar small potato sapodilla looking
fruit with a hard brown skin and four black pips, which I
believe is called a chiku. Any one of these three when really
good is, to my mind, much preferable to the highly-vaunted
mangostine which we had at Madras.

We spent the morning with the Central Provinces depu-
tations and representatives of the deputations. The addresses
are worthy of note, for they go into detail of constituencies
and localities, departments, and all the rest of it, and show
very careful thought. One paragraph which appears in many
of the addresses, clearly there by accident, is this : “ The
Provincial Council should possess all powers of legislation
and control over matters relating to provincial administration,
except the direction of military affairs, or foreign relations,
the declaration of War, the making of peace, and the entering
into treaties other than commercial treaties.” This is a most
curious provision, both in its differentiation of treaties from
commercial treaties and in the description of these as affairs
of provincial administration. There is also in nearly all
these addresses a demand for an Indian Judicial Privy Council.
This seems to me absurd, as the Privy Council could never
be equal to the English one. It is not in the Privy Council
that Indian legal delays occur, but in the preparation of the
cases for it. A long scheme of dissent by Dr. Pandit, Vice-
Chairman of the District Council of Nagpur, is included,
also very carefully worked out, with a very complicated
constitution.

Perhaps the best of the addresses came from the Central
Provinces and Berar Graduates’ Association, which went into
details of local self-government and the Indianisation of the
public services. The position of Berar is very peculiar.

January i] BOMBAY 161

Leased in perpetuity from the Nizam, it is not British terri-
tory, and laws made in British territory have to be applied
by ordinance to Berar. The Berar people feel this very
strongly and want the law altered, a new treaty made, or
complete separation from the Central Provinces. Their
position is certainly anomalous, and this matter must be
subsequently considered.

Note : This dissent of Pandit’s and the address to which I
have just referred ought to be considered at Delhi. I think
somebody ought to go through all the addresses before we
start on the final lap to see what is worth re-consideration.

At 1 2 . 1 5 we had an interview with a man called Muhammad
Amin, a retired district judge. He has written a very good
letter to the Mohammedans of the Central Provinces, but in
the interview he was not much good. He had one monstrous
phrase, in which he said that local governments should prepare
a list of all occasions on which Indians were killed, wounded,
or injured by soldiers during the year. He founded this
monstrous proposal on one case.

Before breakfast I had dictated a letter to Chelmsford
which includes the only extant authoritative draft of the
latest scheme. I breakfasted with Roberts, and talked to
him about his two-Chamber provincial scheme, which I
think makes it top heavy.

After lunch, which I had in my room, and which was the
quickest lunch I have ever had, taking only five minutes, I
went with Halliday and Laverton to the Bombay Natural
History Society’s premises over the top of Phipson’s, the
wine merchants, and was received by Millard and the Com-
mittee, including the Maharao of Cutch, very pleased with
himself on his New Year’s honour. They have done wonder-
fully well in their mammal survey, and have got a multitude
of new species. Their squirrel varieties, showing variations
of colouration on different banks of the same river and different
distances, sometimes only twenty miles, in Burma, were

M

1 62

AN INDIAN DIARY

[‘ January I

particularly interesting ; also some of their flying squirrels,
rats and mice. They have also got some very interesting
birds from Mesopotamia, including the large heron, which
Maude found, one of them being alive at the Zoo, rather
like a giant purple heron. This is the best scientific work
now being done in India. They will have to have a good
museum built for them, for their collections are getting very
large, and they will have to be assisted by the Government
after the War, but they must maintain their liberty. The
mammal survey is practically at a standstill because of the
War. They have got one Indian collector out who is becom-
ing very skilled at skinning and preserving. They have a
few interesting live animals, including a most attractive white
lory, who woke up and dealt with an enormous beetle which
was given him alive, and there was a tremendous tussle for
twenty minutes, as he began to eat it from the tail end. The
old giant hornbill which I saw five years ago is still alive.
He has now been here for twenty-five years in a small cage
without a broken feather. He has lost his eyesight, and can
no longer catch with his marvellous accuracy from across
the room or even close. But he looks most awfully well
and has got rather savage. He opens the oil gland on his
back every morning and dresses his yellow feathers with the
oil from the gland.

I came back at half-past two and talked to the representa-
tives ,of the Central Provinces and Berar Graduates’
Association. They did not mind dyarchy, but did not
like it.

At four o’clock I went to the races with Willingdon. It
was a very pleasant break, and I saw heaps of people, and
enjoyed it.

I came back at six, and we had a talk with Mudholkar, who
has an interesting memorandum which ought to be con-
sidered at Delhi. He has gone in for dyarchy whole-heartedly,
and would approve my scheme — not the new one, which I

'January i] BOMBAY 163

did not put to him, but the one which held the field till then.
He will be a good man for the conference at Delhi.

He was followed by Khaparde, Tilak’s right-hand man,
pleasant to talk to, but not much use. He has just been
returned to the Legislative Council at an election, at which
he won by eight votes to six. Could representative insti-
tutions ever show a greater mockery !

After that, the last dinner party here. These dinner
parties are a severe trial, although they are better at Bombay
than anywhere else. I sat next to Lady Willingdon and
Lady Petit, the Parsi lady whose daughter is the object of
Jinnah’s affections. Late at night I read to Willingdon and
Donoughmore my letter to Chelmsford, with their general
approval. I have here to record that as Khaparde left the
room Chelmsford and I shook hands and almost danced for
joy. This was the last of the formal interviews ; the evidence
is at an end. It has been most useful.

Wednesday , January 2. I got up early, in accordance
with pre-arrangement, and went down to Willingdon’s
room, where I explained the latest scheme to Setalwad,
Chandarvaka and Rahimtoolah. To my astonishment they
all liked it. I cannot see that it is so very different from the
old scheme. It gives six years’ preparation, and it throws
the onus of reserved subjects on the new responsible govern-
ment who want to reserve instead of on the people who want
to obtain control ; but these three gentlemen assured me
that it would commend itself to 90 per cent, of the people
of India.

After they had gone we had Stanley Reed to breakfast
He assured me that the new scheme was a scheme into which
he could go heart and soul. In the middle of breakfast
Chelmsford sent for me by a letter, in which he complained
that I had broken my string, and asked what these secret
conclaves were. I looked very sulky and forbidding, and

1 64 AN INDIAN DIARY [; January 2

therefore instead of protesting he said he was so glad
to think, because I should do so much better with them,
that I was seeing these people alone. I told him that I
had already explained to him that I was going to see Reed
and Setalwad again, and I had not had time to do it until
this last day in Bombay, when, unfortunately, he was going
away. I went back to Reed, who is really delighted with
the scheme. We discussed the necessity of distinguishing
in India between administration and politics. He agrees
that civil servants must defend themselves, and that if a
civil servant becomes more than a chief secretary, he should
regard himself not as an official but as a politician.

After breakfast, and after we had seen Chelmsford off in
his motor, I was privileged to meet Curtis, Carmichael,
Chaubal and Willingdon, in fact the whole Government of
Bombay. I threw myself with great keenness into a long
harangue, in which I explained the two schemes, the reasons
underlying them, and why we wanted to back the local
governments against the Government of India. Chaubal,
who had damned the old scheme, now preferred it to the new
one, and said he had not understood it before. To my sur-
prise Carmichael and Curtis took the same view. This is
most interesting, and I was delighted, for I still like the old
scheme better. Willingdon is very amused and rather down
in the mouth about it. Curtis wants to keep on with local
government, but is in frightful difficulty about communal
representation on local bodies, which is a very hard nut to
crack. We must discuss this at Delhi. I am afraid Car-
michael thinks we are going very quickly, but I harangued
about the landslide I feared in Europe. Will India stand a
chance of moderation if Ukrania and Palestine have it all
their own way ?

The Bombay Chronicle had an article this morning asking
me to drive to the station in an open motor car, so I did, but I
am afraid I cannot flatter myself that the crowds recognised

BOMBAY

January 2]

i6 5

me. So ends Bombay. I leave with great admiration for
the personality and character of Willingdon, and for the
thorough energy and success of Lady Willingdon. She has
done the thing most awfully well whilst we have been there.
She is idolised by the people, and her work, her War work
particularly, has been amazing.

Our train is very comfortable. We were properly seen
off and guarded at the station. Bombay has been a great
success, and is far the happiest and most progressive part of
India, in which we ought to be able to go much farther than
anywhere else. I feel happier. I am pleased with Chelms-
ford. It really looks as if only the Government of India is
the stumbling block. I am pleased with Meston’s contribu-
tion to the financial situation, and I am pleased with Bombay.
I do not much mind the new scheme. I have been asleep
most of the afternoon, and, awaking invigorated, a new idea
for the Government of India has occurred to me. Why not
abolish the Legislative Council, and have a Legislative
Assembly consisting of ten delegates from every provincial
council, who can pass such laws as they like and such resolu-
tions as they like, the members of the Government attending
their sittings to endeavour to get Bills through and to answer
questions and to make speeches ? Let us, then, have an Indian
Privy Council nominated for life, the Privy Council to consist
of the Viceroy’s Executive Council and worthies and repre-
sentative Indians, the Governor to have the power «to pass
Ordinances through the Privy Council, and no legislation
shall have the force of law until ratified by the Privy Council.
Princes might easily be members of the Privy Council and
summoned to it. This is fluid, and has not the formality of
a Second Chamber. I must cogitate upon this at Gwalior.

[ January 3

VI

GWALIOR

Thursday , January 3. I must jot down a few notes in order
to keep my record complete. As I have said, we left Bombay
at quarter-past one on January 2, after the exciting morning
I have described. We lunched immediately. Sleep most
of the afternoon, then some work. I read Vincent and
Charles Roberts’ memos over again ; finished my diary of
Bombay ; revised the letter to Chelmsford, and had a long
talk with Willingdon and Donoughmore ; then dinner.
The dining saloon, of course, was not so comfortable as
Chelmsford’s, and the food not so good, but it was a very
decent meal, after which Donoughmore, Crerar, Willingdon
and I played bridge in my saloon. At 1 1 o’clock I went to
bed, leaving them stranded through the impracticability of
getting back home owing to Lady Willingdon’s bedroom and
that of her maid intervening. I heard afterwards that they
had to wait till after 12. I slept soundly. This morning I lay
in bed, read a novel, thought, and did no work. After lunch
I signed the Chelmsford letter and dictated comments on
Roberts and Vincent. We arrived at Gwalior at four o’clock,
and were met at the station by certain notabilities, headed by
Gwalior. We drove through his glorious gardens to his
enormous palace, an Indian-Italian structure built by his
father and furnished amazingly. The staircase has glass
banisters, with a wooden balustrade, glass pendants hanging
underneath the staircase. The drawing-room is of enormous
size, with a vaulted roof and two of the biggest glass chandeliers
I ever saw, each with 380 lamps. Photographs and pictures
of tigers, etc., Kings, Viceroys, Gwaliors, decorate the rooms.
My own apartment consists of an enormous drawing-room, a

166

GWALIOR

January 3]

167

dark and comfortable bedroom, and a bright, cheerful dressing-
room, with bath-room, hall, and so forth. The bedroom has
the softest carpet I have ever seen — white and padded ; and
the large drawing-room of the palace has the largest carpet I
have ever seen, quite pretty, made specially for it. The
avenue outside, with its clipped trees, if it was not for the palm
trees, is very English. Everywhere are cigarette boxes in
the form of motor cars or aeroplanes, or a stork to lift the
cigarettes out. On the dining-table is an electric pump
working a fountain. One has often been inclined to wonder
what becomes of this sort of ingenuity when one sees them at
jewellers or bazaars, or Maples, or Drews, and so forth, and
the answer seems to be that they all go to the Indian princes.

After tea, at which Gwalior was obviously very nervous, we
drove to the Fort — rather hair-raising, because old Gwalior
insisted upon driving his own car, always missed the gears,
and stopped his engine. This happened four or five times up
steep hills, and was sufficiently alarming to be exciting.
However, we got to the Fort, which well repays a second
visit. There is some beautiful stone carving of the 17th
century in the old palace at the top ; there are some very
interesting large stone idols cut in the rock ; there are some
nice Jain temples ; there is a well-developed Sirdar school ;
there are curious relics, such as a fives court of the British
occupation, and the Sirdar school is really the old barracks.
Lastly, there is the most glorious view almost in th^ world,
right across the plains of Gwalior, from this great rock, with
its Fort three miles in circumference. The palace looked most
impressive, surrounded by green trees, and so did the new
town. Gwalior is building an industrial city on the site of
the old town, so that the old town will fill up again. He
has got an oil mill, a cotton factory ; he is going to have a
big power station, and one of the things he particularly wishes
to do is to make machinery for all the mills in India. He is a
very progressive and enthusiastic man, and I think must have

1 68 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 2

made a lot of money during the War, as he is a large share-
holder in Tata’s and a number of other companies. He has
a brick kiln in Bombay, which he says is paying him 12 per
cent. He pointed out one part of his town, which he is
going to lay out on garden city principles. The new town,
which we drove through on the way back, is very imposing,
with some very fine buildings, but some of the suburbs are
regrettably squalid. I do not think one realises or can ever
possibly get at life in a Native State whilst one stays with the
prince. There seems to me to be a great deal more servility
here than in any State I have been in. Everybody spends all
his time in our presence bent to the ground.

In the evening there was a quiet dinner party, followed by
bridge. Donoughmore talked, Scindia played Slippery Jane,
and his crowing laugh rang out at frequent intervals
through the drawing-room. Then bed, but not sleep, for
I had to read a paper by Carmichael that Willingdon had
given me, which is really a Brunyate scheme, except that the
lump sum contribution is taken in the shape of a fixed half
of the present land revenue, or a fixed proportion of the present
land revenue, leaving all the expansion to the Provinces. I
do not see much point in this, and it is not so good as Meston’s,
but still it is another financial scheme by an expert.

Then I read some papers of Scindia’s. He has gone for
a Prince’s Chamber.

«•

Friday, January 4. Breakfast at nine, and the start for
the scene of slaughter at quarter to eleven. Twenty miles
drive through typical Gwalior country, along dusty roads,
with sparse bushes in the sandy and rocky desert. No wonder
that it is a good country for tigers, because a tiger, wandering
round this detestable and appalling country, finds a beautiful
ravine, with water in it, luxuriant, with trees and thick jungle,
and remains there ; so you know where to look for him. We
got to our meeting place, where there were horses and three

.jjggaa

>

f

GWALIOR

Passage leading to tower from which the tiger shoot took place

[To face page 168

January 4] GWALIOR 169

elephants with howdahs to ride, a dandy in which anybody
could be carried who wished it, a whole group of coolies, and
a regiment of 400 soldiers to beat. I got on to an elephant
and was hurtled over the rocks for about one and a half miles
— a very uncomfortable elephant to sit on. Then we got
down and walked on tiptoe into the ravine. Right across
this ravine stretches a high wall, or rather two high walls, with
a passage down in the ravine between them. In the very
bottom of this ravine on the wall is a three-storied tower, at
the top of which, sheltered partly by a stone awning, sit the
guns. The middle story is occupied by a luncheon-room,
and the lower story by a sort of cellar. Beyond the tower
comes an interruption, and then a smaller wall going up the
other side. We got into the tower very quietly and stood
whilst the beat came up to us from the shorter side of the
ravine. It came quietly, making no noise, and there was
no tiger. Nothing appeared, save one peacock and some
squirrels. Then we turned round and faced the other way.
This time a longer drive took place, accompanied Dy what the
Indians call — a name which we have borrowed — a hullabaloo.
Tomtoms beat ; there were great shouts and dreadful noises,
so that the tiger should start a long way off and come quietly.
Nothing had apparently been expected from the first drive ;
from the second drive great things were hoped for, because a
buffalo had been killed on the top and dragged by the tiger
down to the valley. It was not long after the beat, started
before, right in the middle of the ravine, and by some water,
I saw the tiger coming out, walking very slowly, about 60
yards away from me — walking towards me, showing his left
side at an angle of 45 degrees. I aimed as carefully as my
excitement would let me, and had the satisfaction of seeing
the tiger sit down on his hind legs, put his head right up, and
then roll right over. Before I could get in another shot,
however, he was off, crawling lop-sidedly, and leaving behind
much blood. The beat was then stopped ; the elephants

AN INDIAN DIARY

170

[January 4

were obtained, but nobody was allowed to go on them because
they were notoriously unsteady, and there were reported to
be bees in the jungle. They soon sighted the tiger going
back towards the beaters. These were then removed, and
Gwalior went round to join the beaters. What happened
afterwards took almost till dark, but I gather that the tiger
was seen crossing a ride towards us, turned by a shot by one
of Gwalior’s staff, which missed it. He is not popular for
this. He then charged an elephant which was sent for in
the middle of the beat. The elephant bolted, and has not
been seen since, but a man on the elephant, who was much
hurt in the flight, succeeded in getting two shots at it, one of
which hit it. It then, now severely wounded, charged a man,
and I fear hurt him, but not badly, and was finally despatched
lying in some water. It is a fine male tiger, 9 ft. 5 in. long,
with a short tail. I do not know how one ought to have dealt
with the matter ; certainly things were much bungled after
the tiger was wounded, I think because of the extraordinary,
almost impenetrable, nature of the jungle and the fact that
we had no tracker. However, I looked at its body. No
shot could have been better than mine ; it hit the tiger in
exactly the right place. I cannot think why it did not kill it.
I am not at all sure that I am happy about Laverton’s split
bullets. However, the day was successful. I cannot help
thinking about the man, about whom I am sure everything
is all right.

We came home thoroughly tired with excitement ; could
hardly keep awake for dinner, and went to bed immediately
afterwards, where I slept from ten to six without moving, a
great deal for me.

When they came after the tiger, throwing at it hand
grenades, firing blank cartridges, and so forth, in order
to move it and prevent it charging back, flying foxes were
disturbed from the trees, peacocks moved backwards and
forwards, parrots flew about ; four sambhur passed before

GWALIOR

January 4]

171

my first shot at the tiger, but I am afraid I did not see them.
It is a very artificial form of sport, but it gave me sufficient
thrill to last me a lifetime.

Saturday , January 5. Apparently the shot which I fired
had hit him exactly in the right place and would certainly
have killed him eventually, but the bullet, being split, broke
up into small pieces, and had not penetrated the heart.

We motored off this morning about twelve miles to a
place called Kulaith. Here we found the same paraphernalia
of beaters and coolies, luncheon and refreshments, elephants
and horses. I walked to the place, a distance of about one
and a half miles ; saw nothing but a few partridges. We
first put Willingdon, Studd 1 and Crerar into a machan built
of bamboo poles with a charpoy at the top, and then went on
a little farther, not much more than 100 yards from them,
where we had a slightly more solid erection with an awning
over it built of old railway lines. Here we stayed for three
hours during a very long beat of about seven miles. The
nullah was better wooded and wider than yesterday’s, and
although some of the guns saw some sambhur, one apparently
a good stag, and some hares, I saw no living thing. The tiger
apparently had got out of the beat, and we came home early,
after a very enjoyable blank day.

We drove then to the prison, where we saw the interesting
operation of weaving carpets, one man singing out the pattern
and the colour to two looms. The carpets are quite nice
and the colours very good ; design also good. Every
man with a sentence of more than two years is taught to make
carpets, and they wove in the jail here the wonderful carpet
for the big Durbar Hall of the palace.

Then on to the State Pottery Works, where things are
done very well, but, as usual in these things, there is no
sign of artistic taste at all, and everything but domestic ware
is hideously ugly.

1 A.D.C. to Lord Willingdon;

172 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 5

Then to the machinery shops, where they are building
railway wagons and carriages, and so forth ; on to the
Club, quite a nice building, built by Scindia for his subjects ;
then to his little suburban house on the river. The garden
here is superb, the luxury great, the situation along the river
bank adorable. If only one had this climate, this money,
these situations and opportunities, with labour and materials
plentiful, what beautiful things people could make, but here,
as usual, toys are rampant. The Maharaja has made the
windows of his bungalow out of his old discarded photographic
negatives.

After this we went home. The better news from Russia
is very inspiring, and I had a telegram from home saying that
the King had sanctioned Rahintoolah. Then followed a
banquet. I sat between Lady Willingdon and Lady Ahmed
Khan, who is an Englishwoman.

Ahmed Khan was a brother of Aftab Khan on my Council,
and married two sisters, one after the other. There were
about fifty people to dinner in the dungeon-like dining-room.
We entered dinner to a harmonium played mechanically ;
the band played outside ; fife and drum bands, first of small
boys, the children’s band, and then the men’s band marched
round the table ; the railway train, worked electrically, went
round the table. It was a curious mixture. Scindia proposed
my health very suddenly, and read a few well-chosen words.
I had tp respond, and although I did nothing wrong, I cannot
consider it a great success. Then bridge, and bed. I
played bridge with Willingdon, Donoughmore and a doctor
at the Hospital, an Indian, who played quite well.

The man who was mauled by the tiger is still very feverish
and the wound is septic, but he is making a fight for it, and I
think will be all right.

Sunday , January 6. I saw Dr. Rigby, who had been in
consultation with the doctor about the man who was mauled.

GWALIOR

173

January 6 ]

He tells me that everything is going well, and that there is
very little anxiety. I hope he is right, for these are the
horrible parts of this game. I am bound to say that I think
they were rather careless, after they knew the tiger was
wounded, in the way they pushed the beaters on, although they
did the proper thing in stopping them for a moment. It was
mainly due to the fact that none of the elephants were steady.

Willingdon went to church in the morning to the interces-
sion service, and the Maharaja came to see me. I am full
of sympathy for poor Scindia, who comes back from Delhi
crying bitterly. He has lost his friend Hardinge. No one
can get much sympathy from Chelmsford, and Bosanquet 1
seems to treat him very badly indeed.

After breakfast we motored off a few miles to Rampur, a
long, very narrow gully with steep cliffs on either side. We
sat on the top of these cliffs at a fork in the valley, amid the
most beautiful scenery imaginable — a flat, dry plain, and then
this deep cleft full of trees, with open spaces in it. Scindia
had gone on ahead, and had made sure, he said, that the tiger
was in the beat. Donoughmore and Willingdon were placed
in the positions of advantage. It was a long beat, as many
side valleys had to be explored. The kill was only about
200 yards from us. At one time a pig appeared on the
opposite bank and ran along the top ; partridges moved
about. It was great fun not sitting on a tower. The tempera-
ture was beautiful. A thoroughly happy three hours. The
tiger was very loath to come forward. We heard him give
tongue two or three times, which is very rare. The beaters
began to yell ; he moved 100 yards and then stopped. He
appeared in front of Donoughmore at quite a slow trot, but
the poor fellow missed him twice. I felt very sorry for him.
I am sure I should have done the same. Willingdon jumped
to his feet and made a most excellent shot, almost straight
below him. The tiger moved forward into some bushes,
and was lost. We threw stones at him ; heaps of people

1 O. V. Bosanquet, C.S.I., C.I.E. (A.G.G. Central India).

174

AN INDIAN DIARY

[January 6

said they could see him, and finally the elephants were made
to come along. They were most reluctant to approach, but
the tiger was soon found dead. Everybody was very
happy except Donoughmore. It was an enormous tiger,
io ft. in. long, and was probably an old beast.

We came home, and as I was rather tired I went to sleep.
Just before dinner I received a present from the Maharani
in the shape of some Gwalior-made fabric to take to my wife,
and Willingdon and I were permitted to go and see the
Maharani. It was a new part of the palace, luxuriantly and
hideously furnished. We were taken up to a blind, on the
other side of which were seated Lady Willingdon, the
Maharaja, Gwalior’s mother and his two wives. We could
see nothing, they could see everything, and I must say it was
a most embarrassing situation. We said some perfunctory
things, got a laugh or two, and went away.

A small dinner party and a last rubber of bridge, and I
left with genuine regret. Scindia is one of the best fellows
I know, and none of the treatment he has received makes any
difference to his loyalty, but it is astonishing that wherever
one traces the hand of the Government of India one sees
these absurd personal questions. Scindia told me this
morning that once when he was in Delhi he was severely
reprimanded for taking his pugaree off after the Viceroy had
left. He is not allowed to appear at dinner without his head
cover. , This, he says, is quite right, because in the presence
of his superiors an Indian ought to have his head covered,
but why does this not apply to British Indians like Sankaran
Nair and only to Indian princes ? He says that now whenever
somebody like Chelmsford, or a Governor, or myself, comes
to shoot with him he has to wear a pugaree to shoot in, although
he risks sunstroke by doing so. We live and learn.

Scindia’s knowledge of tigers must be unique. He has
seen about 700 killed, and really he works it extraordinarily
well. It is no easy matter to mark down a tiger in the cold

GWALIOR

January 6]

l 75

weather. As a rule, when people come early he begins to
feed for them about the beginning of December, first one kill
a month, then one a fortnight, then six a month. You must
not overfeed your tiger, or he won’t play straight. Some-
times the tiger, for instance the one that we got this morning,
has to be driven into a convenient nullah by disturbing him
with sticks and stones a few nights previously in another
nullah. He tells me that on a watch tower he saw the eight
tigers which Hardinge got in one day killing their buffaloes,
the first at twenty minutes past four. Four tigers appeared
in Gwalior City last year. One he killed actually in the
palace grounds.

I return to Delhi much better for my holiday, with my brain
much clearer ; and a new idea has struck me for the Govern-
ment of India. You might abolish the Legislative Council
altogether. Keep it as it is for five years, but when the
responsible Governments begin to come in the Provinces
cause the Legislative Council of the Government of India
to disappear, and have instead a sort of Bundesrath con-
taining delegates appointed by each Government and the
Native States. Scindia’s own plan for the princes is merely
an arbitration court consisting of six princes, a judge, and a
political officer. I do not care for this myself ; you want
something more than that.

January io

VII

DELHI III— BHARATPUR I— DELHI IV

Thursday , January io. I have not been able to put down
anything of the events of the past three days, for they yield
to none in their harassing nature, in the perplexities which
they have produced, and the profound depression which they
have caused. I recorded that before I left Bombay I had
thought of a new expedient which had been put to Rahim-
toolah, Satalwad, Chandarvarka, and Stanley Reed, and had
gained their enthusiasm ; that I had put it to them after
putting it quite casually that morning to Chelmsford, who
accepted it, and to Willingdon, who delighted in it ; and
Donoughmore and Duke were, in my opinion, not adverse.
It was, to my mind, so like the old scheme that I could not
conceive why men who had condemned the old scheme as
useless were willing to accept this scheme, and I often pointed
this out to Chelmsford, the sole difference being that at the
end of the six years probationary period in the new scheme
the presumption was, and was stated to be, in favour of
responsible government. The Statutory Commission would
have power to reserve subjects if the local government proved
it was necessary to reserve them, the onus of proof lying on
the local government. That was the difference, and I
admitted that it was a substantial difference, but it was of the
essence of my scheme. When on Monday morning I arrived
at Delhi, to be met at the station by the faithful Hailey, I
received a very welcome letter from Chelmsford in answer to
the one I sent him from Gwalior station. It was a very
satisfactory letter, full of friendship, and contained the welcome
news that he had put our new plan to every member of his
Council and that they had all accepted it without demur,

176

DELHI III

177

January 10]

and were prepared to suggest amendments on detail. As
regards the Upper Chamber of the Government of India, he
said that his Government were prepared to meet me because
they saw the force of my argument, and I should not find them
intransigent. This was extraordinarily good news, and I
read it to Donoughmore on the way up, who remarked
characteristically : “ There must be something wrong with
the scheme.”

In the morning we had a long conference together, because
my colleagues as a body had not heard the new scheme. We
discussed it rather preliminarily, and agreed that it must be
put in writing before coming to any decision. Accordingly,
I promised to circulate to them an abstract from my letter to
the Viceroy, together with a paper by Roberts in favour of
a Second Chamber in the Legislative Councils ; one by Basu,
and one by Sir William Vincent* We were all united, I
think, against Sir William Vincent in his views, particularly
in his belief that the Government of India will still be able
to keep a directing hand over the Provinces.

In the early morning, before our conference, I saw Chelms-
ford, who said that Meyer wished us to meet as individuals
when we first met the Government of India, so that everybody
was free to talk as they liked. To this I gladly assented, and
we decided to meet the Government of India as individuals
at half-past ten on Wednesday morning.

In the afternoon I saw Ramaswami Aiyar, who happened to
be in Delhi. He told me that he had become Secretary of
the Congress, and so wielded considerable influence. I put
before him my new scheme, which he approved so far as he
could understand it, but he explained that it was absolutely
essential to get on my side Sankaran Nair, who wielded more
influence than any other Indian.

After a game of tennis I saw Sir George Barnes, and we
discussed together industrial expansion in India, and the
difficult question of Colonial immigration to replace in-

178 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 10

dentured labour in the Crown Colonies. The Indians
absolutely refuse to look at Islington’s conference scheme,
because, I think, they are impressed by a belief that to import
Indians as coolies stigmatises as inferior the whole of their
race. However, a conference is to be arranged at which
Seton is to be interviewed by the Indians who object to the
scheme. Barnes was most friendly, and said what a pleasure
it was to all of them that the Viceroy and I were so thoroughly
in agreement.

The next morning we had another conference, and then it
was found that there was a great difference of opinion among
us. Roberts is very keen on a Second Chamber in the
Provinces ; Duke wants it also ; so do Vincent, Seton
and Kisch. Donoughmore and I are hotly opposed to it.
Splendid fellow, Donoughmore ; he backs me all the way
through, and is becoming a fine Radical. We are going to
have some amusement out of this matter, I think, because
they are all anxious for Second Chambers, but some of them
want it with an official majority, or a very heavy official vote,
and others do not, so it is not the same thing really that they
want, although they think it is. Apart from this, we are all
more or less in agreement, and nothing was disclosed, either
in the morning or the afternoon — for we sat both — to vary
this.

In the evening, however, the whole glorious atmosphere
was suddenly dissipated. Chelmsford has put before his
colleagues my new scheme without disclosing to them at
all the fact that the onus was admitted and the presumption
was in favour of responsible government ; in other words,
he presented it to them as though it were a mere question of
postponing the evil day for six years. No wonder they
accepted it ! I cannot understand it. It is not as though he
only had it verbally, because my letter sent to him at Gwalior
clearly states it. He cannot have supposed that a scheme
which did not command the enthusiasm of anybody pleased

DELHI III

179

January 10]

Ramaswami Aiyar, Stanley Reed, and the three Bombay men
simply because the evil day is postponed six years. Not
to have mentioned this vital fact is absolutely inexplicable.
He hinted it to me at the tennis court, and told me about it
again in the evening. I had a talk with Maffey, who himself
could not understand it, and I felt very, very depressed.
Another foolish thing he has done — he has talked about the
scheme to all his colleagues except Nair. He did not commit
himself because he had not seen it in writing, but so far as I
could gather he was not opposed to the scheme, although he
wished that the power of Ordinance should be reserved only
to things necessary for the maintenance of peace.

I went to bed feeling very depressed, and in the morning
went and confronted the Government of India. They were
all round a table, and we sat from half-past ten till twenty-five
minutes to two. I made my case, and answered some very
crucial questions by Meyer, who was very clever and not at
all intractable. It went all round the table. There looked
to be a considerable Second Chamber feeling, although we
were not really discussing that, but they were all opposed to
the change of the onus of proof. What strikes me as so
curious is that they object to the statement that their powers
shall be transferred unless the Statutory Commission has it
proved that they should not be transferred. That they
object to, and yet they admit in argument that it is quite true
that those who object to transferring ought to be the pkintiffs
before the Commission. Well, I am perfectly certain that
there is not much difference except in wording, if they are
genuine in this latter admission. For instance, I do not
mind saying that the Committee may reserve such as they
are satisfied ought to be reserved instead of saying shall
transfer unless they are satisfied, because they cannot reserve
if they are not satisfied under either wording, and if they
cannot reserve they have got to transfer. But what a terrible
tragedy it is that men are so timid as to refuse to commit

i8o AN INDIAN DIARY [January io

themselves to such wording as will make the scheme accept-
able ! Indeed, if I am going to be beaten on this subject, I
am going back to the other scheme. There is no public for
it, but it is sound ; there is no argument in favour of it on
the ground of tickling public opinion, but it is sound, and
I am not going to be tricked, as I have been tricked, into
accepting something which merely means six years delay.

In the afternoon we tried to reach a compromise, but I
do not think we succeeded. We had some more talk of a
Second Chamber.

It was interesting at the morning meeting to see the differ-
ence between the men. Claude Hill was easily bullied ; the
Commander-in-Chief said nothing, of course ; Lowndes was
very vigorous and lawyer-like, and very strong in his opposi-
tion to the statement of the onus ; Sankaran Nair was
frightfully quarrelsome, vilely mannered, and obviously out
to wreck ; Basu, in short, was unintelligible. Lowndes, in
particular, does not want to alarm public opinion by what is
“ eyewash,” because he says that you do not intend them to
get to responsible government in six years. My answer is :
“ I certainly do so far as Bombay is concerned.” Lowndes
only wants Ordinances to last for the period of the new Council,
and he and Meyer both suggest that it should be passed in a
sort of Privy Council. I think we have agreed to that.
Meyer would not state too rigidly that the people are bound
to get on to responsible government. Basu stated that
agitation would certainly cease if the policy we contemplated
were carried out. Lowndes wants a Second Chamber, and
objects to anything which, put into lawyer’s language, will
transfer subjects until cause has been shown why they shall
not be handed over. He wants an Ordinance to be only
for the period of the new Council. Vincent asked that
residuary powers should be “A,” and thought that local
governments should be consulted upon Second Chambers.
Nair stated his preference for the first of the two schemes,

DELHI III

January io]

1 8 1

but he travestied the second scheme. He said that Meyer’s
proposals were a farce ; he would not allow any Ordinance
to be passed by the Governor which interfered with the civil
rights or liberty of the individual ; he would not allow more
to a Government than the old Budget if the conference
objected to the “ A ” budget.

In the afternoon we considered various wordings, both
for Ordinances and for transference after the six years. The
wording for the Ordinance that seems most popular is :
“ The Governor may pass an Ordinance, which shall hold
good for the life of the Government, in a Special Ordinance
Committee, which shall consist of his Executive Council, such
nominated members as he thinks fit, and the Standing Com-
mittee associated with the department concerned, provided
that the Ordinance shall not be passed except in matters
which, in the opinion of the Governor, are necessary for the
preservation of the public peace or the security and preserva-
tion of life.” The wording which seems most popular on
the question of the transfer of powers is : “ (i) Thereafter
there shall be appointed in each Province governed by a
Governor or Lieutenant-Governor Ministers who shall act
with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council of the
Province, whether in regard to all the subjects of provincial
legislation or to some of them as may be determined by the
Statutory Commission. (2) The Statutory Commission shall
(reserve from) the control of the Ministry any or alPof the
powers included in Schedule A which they are satisfied
cannot be for the time being transferred with due regard to
the public interest. Or alternative to (2) There shall be
transferred to the control of the Ministry all the powers
included in Schedules A and B, provided that the Statutory
Commission may reserve from the control of the Ministry
in any Province such of the powers included in Schedule A
as they are satisfied that it is not in the public interest for
the time being so to transfer.” Basu still sticks to a Second

182

AN INDIAN DIARY [January io

Chamber, and wants Ordinances actually to pass a Port Trust
Bill. He is getting wildly conservative, I think out of fear,
but strangely enough, although he is conservative in the
actual working of the constitution, he is very anxious to keep
the onus on those who wish to reserve, and even would prefer
a definite time without any Commission at all. We discussed
as a possible compromise that there should be no Statutory
Commission at the end of six years, that then B subjects
should be automatically transferred, together with such A
subjects as the Government of India, on appeal, wished to
transfer, but at the end of nine years or eleven years all A
subjects should be transferred unless cause was shown, etc.
I do not know whether they would accept this.

In the evening I saw Meyer, who came to talk about his
Budget, and in order to try and get him on my side I sent a
very strong telegram home in order to help him. He wants
gold, and it is frightfully difficult, on the information that the
Treasury will give him, to show why he cannot have it. It
is inconceivable that India should go on with inconvertibility
because America refuses to help us or her, particularly when
her difficulties are caused by financing the British Government.
Afterwards I talked to him a bit about the schemes, but to
show what miles apart we are he gave me a wording of the
terms of reference to the Royal Commission which were
something like these : To consider what further steps towards
the progressive realisation of responsible government can
be taken, with special reference to the control of the Executive
by the Legislative Council. That is, of course, a roving
commission, and it is putting on to a Commission six years
hence what we are too cowardly to do now. Just as if this
was not complete tragedy enough, Roberts reports to me that
he had a long interview with Nair this evening, who refused
to look at any scheme, and seems to think he can create a
revolution. Perhaps he can. Certainly he will if the Govern-
ment of India has it its own way. I do not know what to

DELHI III

January io]

183

do ; I do not know where to turn for help. The whole
thing, just as it looked most promising, has tumbled about my
ears. Duke is in the depths of depression, because he says
that the scheme at its best is only the third best, and is harking
back to sub-division of Provinces and a Curtis scheme.
Oh ! my God, I do not know whether I should not go home
at once, frankly confess I have failed, and turn my attention
to smashing the whole concern.

Lowndes is coming here to breakfast with me in a few
minutes, and I must see what can be done with him, but I
call the three days that have just passed the blackest I have
ever known.

Friday , January 1 1 . I sent a letter to Sir William Duke,
apologising for the shortness of my temper, due to over-
anxiety. He wrote me a very good reply, and has been much
more tractable. On Thursday morning we had a conference
again, when we arrived at three alternative wordings of the
reference to the Statutory Committee ; discussed at some
length Ordinances, and ratified the wording for the Ordinance
Committee. We had infinite discussion once again on the
all-important topic of how to avoid friction between A and
B subjects. Basu keeps his extraordinary optimism. I
asked him whether he really meant what he said at the Council
yesterday, that agitation would certainly die if our proposals
went through. He repeated it ; but, strangely enough, he
is very conservative in all our talk. He is insisting upon a
Second Chamber in the Provinces, over which we had some
discussion.

Roberts produced his first valuable contribution. He
had prepared a list of provincial functions from the
Statutes, and on this we were able to form an A and B list,
which shows that if we wait for six years for the preliminary
stage, the A list need not be very large. But Vincent, who
is also playing up nobly these days, wants to go through it, and

1 84 AN INDIAN DIARY [January n

spoke very well and forcibly upon the necessity of protecting
vested interests.

Duke lunched with me. We went through the Second
Chamber business again, and talked about lubricants. He
was very sweet and extraordinarily helpful. I have forgotten
to record that in the morning I had Lowndes to breakfast.
I do not know whether I mentioned that Lowndes was due
to see me and Meyer last night (Wednesday) at seven. He
had accepted the invitation and had only stipulated that he
should be allowed to go at a quarter to eight. Meyer and I
waited till twenty to eight, and then Meyer went home.
When Lowndes turned up to breakfast, I asked him about
this, and I found that he had turned up punctually at seven,
had been told by the chaprassi that I was engaged, and had
walked up and down outside in the cold evening weather —
for it is very cold when the sun sets now — not liking to come
in, and had gone home at twenty-five minutes to eight.

At breakfast on Thursday morning we found ourselves
very close together. All he wants is three stages, and he is
then willing to take our formulae. We discussed lubricants,
such as I had written about to Chelmsford, and I found that
he saw eye to eye with me in all subjects. I put to him the
danger of being stampeded by those at home who are
intoxicated with the liberating influences of the War, and
pointed out to him Lloyd George’s speeches about self-
determination, etc., the right of the East African Hottentots
to decide whether they would come under German or British
control, and he was much impressed. Meyer had cynically
answered this argument last night by saying that the
Collectors should then hold a manhood poll of the whole of
India, and they would vote against Home Rule, but of course
Lowndes does not take this view.

When I returned I saw Woollacott, the Times correspondent
in Delhi and the representative of the Pioneer . He is pretty
helpless and hopeless, very garrulous. He was Liberal

January n] DELHI III 185

candidate for Coventry and has edited the Statesman. He is
wholly against Indian aspirations. One thing in our conversa-
tion amused me. He complained of the intolerance of a
woman who had told him in Calcutta that Miss Sorabji
appeared to be very well educated for a native, and in the next
phrase said he did not like Bombay because it was so overrun
by Indians.

In the evening there was a dinner party. Two things I
have to record : one is that I sat next to Cleveland, cheerful
as ever, full of talk of the C.I.D., a Department which I am
going to discuss with him on Monday. The other is that
Mrs. Barstow, sister-in-law of Barstow of the Treasury and
wife of the General out here who has done great w r ork and who
had been decorated on January 1, was here. In going
through the list of honours at Bombay I had told Alan to
telegraph my congratulations to her. It shows how a little
thing like that repays ; she was full of gratitude, bubbling
over with thanks for what I had done.

On Friday morning I got up after a sleepless night, because
everything really hinged upon how far my appeals to Lowndes
had been spread among his friends as to what happened this
morning at the second conference with the Government of
India. In bed I read the telegrams containing Wilson’s
speech. I am a little surprised to find freedom of the seas
in it, but this and Lloyd George’s great speech together bring
peace, it seems to me, appreciably nearer, and certainly tend
to unite the allied forces. Wilson has corrected the possibly
unfortunate results of Lloyd George’s references to Russia,
which I am bound to say were, however, in my opinion,
thoroughly deserved.

In my bath a new inspiration reached me. Why not
limit the power of the Government of a Province to restore
its A desiderata in the Budget to the same things in which a
Governor could override the opinion of his Executive Council
under section 50 of the Act of 1 9 1 5 : “ Whenever the safety,

1 86 AN INDIAN DIARY [January u

tranquillity, or interests of his Presidency or any part thereof
are essentially affected in the opinion of the Governor.”

Vincent came to breakfast. He accepted this idea. He
is really a good fellow at heart, thoroughly disturbed, but
very loyal. He modified his gloomy prognostications that
the Services will be deprived of all English elements as they
are transferred by saying that he thought that that would
happen for a time, but afterwards they would come back, or
at any rate a new set of people would come back, and this
I believe is true. He was thoroughly with me on lubricants,
and had even suggested some of them himself.

I had a word with Chelmsford and then went to the scaffold,
and I must say I come away thoroughly satisfied. My
scheme is through. I think I have recorded the results of
Roberts’ interview with Nair, and his belief that Nair was out
to wreck all and any plan ; that Nair had even told him that
two or three years of repressive action would give India all
that it wanted. I did not record that at yesterday morning’s
conference we suggested that Donoughmore, who is not
known either as a friend or an opponent of Indian aspirations,
should see what he could do with Nair ; but at the meeting
Nair accepted my new suggestion about A and B finance ;
accepted my Ordinance proposals ; and the Government of
India, with the possible exception of Du Boulay, accepted the
last and preferable reference to the Statutory Committee.
This is all absolutely satisfactory, but the plan as it emerges
is : Transitional period, six years ; B powers plus any A
powers Government of India thinks fit in any Province
transferred to responsible government at end of six years ; at
the end of twelve years all remaining powers transferred,
unless Statutory Committee is satisfied some ought to be
reserved, etc. This, of course, puts off the situation I had
visualised in six years to twelve years. I explained that six
years is not much in the life of a nation, but still that delay
might dissipate the reception of the plan, and I agreed that

DELHI III

’January 1 1]

187

on the whole, despite the advantages of a training period to
get such things as re-arrangement of areas and local govern-
ment determined, it might be better to revert to the first
plan when we have started with the B subjects at once and
have the Statutory Committee at the end of six years. Sir
William Vincent, Sankaran Nair, and Lowndes all preferred
this ; Chelmsford does not ; but it was decided to leave it
to see if we could not ascertain what public opinion would
prefer and what the local governments thought. It will be
difficult to ascertain public opinion, but it is worth trying.
It was admitted that if we start with B subjects at once the
B list will be smaller. This has to be set against the argument
that it is better to start at once. We had some discussion
on Second Chambers, in which I stuck to my preference for
Single Chambers, but we agreed this might vary in different
Provinces as it does in Canada, and should be left to the
opinion of local governments. We all agreed that it might
be necessary to have either in the Upper or the Lower Chamber
some nominated members, but all seemed to agree with me
that you ought not to use officials to weight or override the
opinion of elected members. Nair is, I think, opposed to a
Second Chamber. There was, however, nothing about
Nair which was intransigent ; on the contrary, he accepted
every compromise. I think this must be largely due to the
Government of India’s acceptance of the third formula.
There is now nothing left but the question whether we shall
or shall not have a six years probationary period, and there
remains over for discussion next week the Government of
India and lubricants. The crisis is over for the moment, but
it was very near a split, and there are such a large number of
other things to think of that one can never be very
hopeful, and it looks as if an awful lot of time will be
taken up.

The trouble about this exciting week has been that there is
absolutely no time left for mail work.

1 88 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 1 1

I have nothing further to record on Friday. I spent the
day on my mail.

Duke and I had a talk with Chelmsford about the procedure
for next week, and we have arranged that we shall have on
Tuesday a discussion with the Government of India on
communal representation and a Second Chamber in the
Provinces ; on Wednesday on the Government of India
itself ; and on Thursday on lubricants. Chelmsford still
shies at the Government of India, but we had to bring him to
the scratch. He described the Government of India to me
as willing to consider the matter, and I hope he is not going
back on this. Before we went he got out the letter to the
local governments embodying the decisions we have come to,
and Marris brought it to me. Marris is a very good fellow,
and we have decided to bring him home with us to write our
report, so that I shall see much of him. He does not like
the six years probation, and I explained to him that he need
not worry ; I thought that the local governments would
bring it back again.

We left at 10.30 for Bharatpur.

Saturday , January 12. I sat for some time after breakfast
in the train discussing with J. B. Wood, who had returned
from Patiala, the princes proposals. An astonishing thing
appears to have happened. The princes invited to discuss
the matter with them Chintamani and some Congress leaders.
It appears that the Congress leaders told them that they
regarded the Native States as anachronisms, and did not wish
to have anything to do with them. This has set them all
babbling again.

We got to Bharatpur, and were greeted by all the notables,
including the Maharaja himself. Manners-Smith, the Agent
for Rajputana, drove me to the bund on which my butt was.
Nothing could have been more lovely than this narrow
causeway, stretching across the vast jheel, covered with green

January 12] BHARATPUR I 189

rushes and bright patches of water with brown duck weed, and
surrounded by luscious green trees. I made myself com-
fortable, and watched a few duck wheeling about, disturbed
by the boats. At ten o’clock the bugle sounded, and at the
sound of the bugle the shooting began. Except for when
I shot at Bharatpur before, I never have had so much shooting.
There was nothing like the usual number of duck, and the
birds were very high. I shot with considerable success at
first, and killed 74 duck in twenty minutes. Then the strain
began to tell upon me. I badly blistered the palm of my hand,
and one of my guns began to shake me to pieces by going off
suddenly two barrels at a time. The result was that when the
bugle sounded at one o’clock it found me dog tired, having a
bag of 120 birds exactly. I do not think I have ever enjoyed
a morning’s shooting so much ; and I am never so happy as
when shooting. It is impossible to describe the wonderful
scene as the elephants come into the jheel and stir the birds
up. It is impossible to describe the wealth of bird life —
various storks and kingfishers, cormorants, snake birds, geese
and duck. The rarest duck was the common English
mallard, but with the exception of a big goose called the comb
duck, or nuckla, a big, ugly black-and-white fellow, and the
spot-bill, which is a big mallard, all the duck are to be
found on my own Norfolk Broads. In number the biggest
quantity killed were garganey, gadwall, shoveller, pochard,
crested pochard, tufted duck, common teal, white-eyed
pochard, widgeon and pintail. When I returned to the
luncheon tent with my duck I found that Bikaner had beaten
me with 122 duck, and the Maharaja of Dholpur had got 170.
I came third. The Viceroy, in a butt next to mine, had killed
56 ; his cheeks were swollen out with pain by his gun ; he
said the birds were too high for him, and he was tired out.
The Maharaja of Bharatpur had gone home to bed with
malaria — alleged, but the real fact of the matter was that this
day of all days he was expecting his second child, and we had

190

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 12

been waiting anxiously to hear the booming of cannons above
the noise of the guns ; but, alas, it had turned out to be a
daughter, and his disappointment was extreme. He is a
nice fellow, a Rajput, who has been educated at Wellington
for a short time.

After lunch I went to see the old Maharani, who had come
down into her tent and is sufficiently catholic in her purdah
system to permit of interviews with Englishmen. She is
only about forty-five ; is a woman of great character, and has
done wonderful War work. She has just been given a C.I. ;
and she is bitterly disappointed at the birth of a grand-
daughter. Bharatpur troops, under her orders, had been in
East Africa, and have just come home from there. She was
full of loyalty to the King and hatred of political reform.
She looks very ill, and is very anxious for her son to have an
heir before she departs. Her husband, poor man, is a political
detenu at Ajmere. He was turned off the Ghadi by the
British for his habit of murdering his subjects when he did
not like them. She does not seem to be in the least resentful.
The bugle sounded at 3.30 again, and we shot till about
half-past five. I killed another 33 duck, and finished with
the respectable total of 153, Raja Singh beating me by a few.
I enjoyed the afternoon’s shooting even more than the
morning’s. The birds were higher, there was less shooting,
but it was great, great fun.

Sunday , January 13. The Viceroy went back to Delhi.
I, as nobody will work on Sundays, pursued steadfastly my
principle to blow the cobwebs out of my head by a long day
in the country with hard exercise on Sundays, otherwise I
am sure I should die, for I am getting very, very stale, and
unless I get a good holiday soon, at least a week, I am afraid
of a collapse. It is the constant strain of wheedling, negotiat-
ing, threatening. No sooner do you conciliate one set of
people than a new one turns up. Accordingly, I got out of

Sharaipur Shot , January 12th, 1918.

[Tofc

BHARATPUR I

' January 13]

191

the train at seven with the young men — Maffey (Chelmsford’s
private secretary), Verney (Military Secretary), John
Mackenzie (Controller), Baring and Holland Hibbert
(A.D.C.s). Baring, splendid fellow, had motored out from
Delhi, leaving at five o’clock in the morning.

We breakfasted on the platform ; motored about five
miles, split into two parties, and then started walking all day
long with guns. The country was under cultivation, mainly
cotton and red pepper, but interspersed among the fields were
stretches of low jungle, with sparse rocky soil, sometimes
breaking into sand. In these jungles live the grey partridges,
going out to feed in the crops in the early morning. They
are cunning birds, and run all day in front of one, and then
get up when least expected. We had great fun, although we
were all shooting badly, our sore shoulders from the day
before and our fatigue telling on our shooting capacity. We
got 12 hares, six quail, 22 brace grey partridges, two black
partridges, a Norfolk plover ; and I shot a chincara, which
ran within a few yards of me, and which I was yelled at to
shoot because it was good eating. We also saw jackals,
foxes, hyenas, a flock of sand grouse, many, many parrots,
monkeys, eagles and hawks, and the everlasting little brown
doves, which are innumerable, and peacocks. The soil was
rather difficult to walk on because it was slippery sand, and
our party of three staggered back to the motor cars at quarter-
past four more dead than alive. Verney, poor fellow, was
ready to drop. We found the other party had gone off an
hour beforehand, too tired to go on. We motored back and
got in at half-past six. A glorious bath, and then I read the
English mail till dinner time, eagerly devouring my letters.
Lord Morley’s reminiscences have arrived : what fun ! I
really am developing a social conscience. I should love to
have had dinner in my tent and gone straight to bed, but I
recognised that I was not dining in a single night this next
week, so I decided to be brave and go to dinner. Chelmsford

1 92 AN INDIAN DIARY [ January 13

was awfully good, and we all went to bed immediately after
dinner. I dropped off straight to sleep, and slept the beautiful
sleep that hard physical exercise produces, and awoke in the
morning with fresh vigour.

Monday , January 14. It was as well, for I had an appalling
day. Claude Hill came to breakfast. We talked over many
things. I found him generally in sympathy.

At half-past ten we had a long conference, which lasted
till lunch time, on the subject of Second Chambers and
communal representation. I do not think I have anything
to say on the subject.

Then Cleveland came to lunch in my tent, and he convinced
me, on the whole, that the C.I.D. is not a subject that one
can deal with as a lubricant. I think he promised better
things in the future than in the past. I suggested to him
that when C.I.D. reports prove nothing criminal against a
man, they should not be used for any other purpose, such as
the convenience of governing. I think he will ponder this.
But I am still obsessed with my new bother, that even when
they agree with you they do nothing.

We began again at half-past two, and finished the discus-
sion of the Government of India fairly successfully, Vincent, I
fear, dissenting. I have now the material to make the big
speech on Wednesday, to which I attach so much importance.
If they .will not touch themselves, then I shall be free to suggest
my Royal Viceroy, whom otherwise I shall bury. A promise
is a promise, but if one does not reach it, one is free to go one’s
own gait.

Then tennis, and in the evening another conference,
which lasted till eight, on lubricants. Roberts objects to
lubricants altogether. How strange he is 1 He objects to
everything always.

Cleveland told us after dinner that he was a great friend of
Mohamed Ali in the old days ; that Mohamed Ali had

DELHI IV

193

January 14]

come to see him just before the Turks came in ; that it was the
last day of Ramadan, and Mohamed Ali was very hungry.
Cleveland gave him a roaring meal, at the end of which
Mohamed Ali wished success to the British arms, and agreed
to send a telegram to Talaat Bey begging the Turks not to come
in against us. He has frequently said since that he wished he
had never sent the telegram, but he did send it, Cleveland
sending it for him, after keeping it overnight and getting his
approval in the morning. What a pity it is that he has gone
wrong !

Tuesday , January 15. By the by, Basu tells me he has a
friend who is an amateur soothsayer. Basu consulted him
once as to whether he was going into the Legislative Council,
and he said : “ I think so, but it does not much matter,
because on June 5, 1917, you will hear news which will be
of great importance to you, and of great good to your country.”
On June 9 he was appointed to my Council. When he was
leaving in September he went to his young friend and said
good-bye. His young friend said : “ You are not going ;
you will be stopped in Bombay, and you will return to
Calcutta.” “ But,” said Basu, “ am I never going at all ? ”
“ Yes,” said the man, “ in March.” “ Shall I ever get
there ? ” said Basu. “ Yes.” This is highly comforting
to me, but it is curious that I intended to go in February, and
it now looks like March. J

I had a long talk with Marris this afternoon, and aired upon
him my Government of India oration for to-morrow. I
think he admits its force ; I am sure it is very strong. I am
very excited about it, and I wish I had more time to take a
lot of trouble. I want to convince them, because if I do not
disagreement is certain.

We have just had a violent note in from O'Dwyer, damning
our scheme all the way up hill and down dale ; a note from
Robertson, saying he does not like it ; and a note from
o

194

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 15

Pentland, saying he has no time to express any opinions at
all. Certainly O’Dwyer’s note is very strange, when one
considers that he promised to support, and said he did support,
Chelmsford’s policy and the pronouncement of August 20.
This is the difficulty we are always in. There is always
somebody new to persuade and to conjole and to placate,
but I am full of hope, because I am determined not to lose
courage.

Poor Chelmsford was very depressed. He came to see
me in my tent to-night about the O’Dwyer note. He said
it was so characteristic of people in India to make these high-
sounding pronouncements and then do nothing, indeed
dissipate them by Executive action. This gave me courage
to explain how more and more angry I got at the delays in
getting things done. Chelmsford said he agreed, but the
trouble about him is that although he agrees, he cannot get
things done. Oh ! for six months as Viceroy !

In the evening I dined with Vincent, Muddiman, 1 Edwards
(the new director of the I.M.S.), Stewart, of the Munitions
Board, Meyer, Marris, and a few other people — a pleasant
men’s dinner. Vincent is really very good company and a
very nice fellow, and it was a pleasant evening.

Wednesday , January 16. I spent my time before breakfast
in elaborating my speech to the Council, and we had our
conference, fateful as it was, at half-past ten. I urged upon
them that it was impossible to have two Chambers in any
Province if we had only one in the Government of India ;
that it was impossible to consider 27 elected members of
the Legislative Council as sufficient to represent India ; and
that we must have something that could develop hereafter
into a Parliament. Second Chambers might be impossible
later on. I was quite willing to keep, and insisted upon
keeping, the authority of the Government of India over the
Legislative Council, until we had seen how the other process

1 A. P. Muddiman, C.I.E. (Secretary to Government of India Legislative
Department) .

DELHI IV

*95

January 16]

worked in the Provinces. I suggested an Upper House
consisting of 50 members, of whom 28 should be nominated,
preferring to leave officials to the discretion of the Viceroy ;
but if they did not like that composition, any House which
made it certain that the Government should prevail would be
sufficient. Meyer and Claude Hill accepted my proposals ;
Chelmsford passed me a note to “ Cheer up ” ; everything
seemed to be going well. Lowndes leapt on them with fury
and objected to them in toto. It was obvious that the paper
which we had prepared at Madras on the Government of
India had never been circulated to his colleagues. It is a
fatal mistake, as it took them completely by surprise, and may
cost us much, because although my Mission, with the excep-
tion of Vincent, loyally supported me to a man, Lowndes’
attack received the assent of Du Boulay and the Commander-
in-Chief, whom I had foolishly antagonised by suggesting a
Standing Committee on Army affairs. Barnes was not there,
and Chelmsford, I thought, agreed with Lowndes. It was
a little depressing, but I am not losing heart, and I am taking
other methods.

Afterwards I drove to lunch with Mahmudabad. 1
Mahmudabad offered me his house the day he heard that
Donoughmore’s tent was burned down. We lunched alone.
He said he approved of the Curtis scheme, but he feared the
officials. He also wants to be consulted at a conference, and
said he was prepared to come to England for six nfonths.
He speaks bad English, and is, I think, thoroughly hostile.

After lunch I came back to my tent and had an interview
with Kapurthala, who asked me to go and stay with him ;
explained to me the beauties of his estate and the splendours
of his French renaissance palace, which had been built by a
French architect. He is a wide traveller, and has been all
over the world.

After him came Alwar, passing through Delhi on the way
home from Patiala — delightful, intelligent, pleasant, friendly.

1 The Raja of Mahmudabad.

196 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 16

I tackled him on the question of the grievance always raised
against his not wearing his Orders on State occasions. He
assured me that he was not guilty of any eccentricity ; that he
was not well versed in the niceties of official procedure ; that
he would never think of doing such a thing, because he
honoured the Orders that the King had given him ; that he
always wore them on State occasions ; sometimes he did not
wear all his medals because they were obscured by his jewels.
He left me a copy of the princes proposals. They seem to
me to be very good ones, but I am sure the Government of
India will never take them.

Then I had a talk with my old friend Alma Latifi, who tied
with me for the Secretaryship of the Union. He is now a
district officer quite close here. He seemed young-looking,
happy, vigorous. He had not got on well in Hyderabad,
but he says he got on too well to please his superiors ; he was
glad to have left. I had heard he was very distressed, but he
did not seem to show it at all. I promised to see him again,
and then went to play tennis.

In the evening we had a conference. Duke made a happy
suggestion, that the old Legislative Council of the Government
of India should be the Upper Chamber, and that you should
have a new Lower Chamber. I am not sure that this will
not meet some of the difficulties.

I had a talk with Chelmsford, who seems on the whole much
more friendly to my proposals for the Government of India.
I think he thinks himself under an obligation to me for my
not having said something about the Viceroyalty. I shall
write to him on this subject before I leave India.

In the evening I dined with the Commander-in-Chief, a
very pleasant dinner. I talked to the Commander-in-Chief,
and got him to admit that his ambitions were to get rid of
local armies. I said this involved an army for Indian defence.
He is coming to lunch on Friday for a business talk.

DELHI IV

197

January 17]

Thursday , January 17. This morning Lowndes came to
breakfast, and we had a very, very pleasant talk. He said
that already last night he came to understand my proposals
better and to see the force of them, and I think I have got him.
I am going to see Maffey later on. He thoroughly agrees
with me about lubricants, which, he agrees with me, have got
an unfortunate name, and about the Viceroyalty. He said
if I made my proposals they would be unanimously rejected
by the Government of India out of loyalty to the Viceroy,
but they would all agree with them.

Maffey came to my tent and we had a long talk. He sees
the difficulties which cause the opposition to my Government
of India proposals, but at the same time he was very sym-
pathetic. I have talked him completely round, but he told
me that my talk on lubricants had frightened the Viceroy.
I said the Viceroy had never suggested this to me ; lubricants
was a bad name ; it was really the remedying of real grievances
that I wanted. Really his attitude is coloured by his hatred
of the separation of Judicial and Executive. I again urged
him to look into the question of the Indianisation of the
Services, which I regard as his special subject. I asked him
if he would ask me to dinner one day, and we parted very good
friends.

Then Chelmsford came to my tent in a particularly
affectionate mood, and asked me if I would revise the speech
with which he proposed to open the Legislative Council.
We talked over many subjects. I told him Lowndes’ attitude
had improved, and he left, saying : “I should like you to
stay here for ever ; you cannot tell how we shall miss you.”
We are getting on !

Then I went to lunch with Nair. It was a curious
experience. There was Lady Nair, as I prefer to call her,
although that is not her right name, for descent among the
Nairs is in the female line, and they take their mother’s name.
Her three daughters were present, too — demure, quiet little

198 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 17

things, who were very much troubled by their saris over their
heads, which were continually falling off. There was a long
English lunch, with Indian musicians playing in the passage
outside. Butter would not melt in Nair’s mouth. He
expressed himself, in conversation after lunch, as very satisfied
with the way things were moving. He wants to come to
England to help me. They all seem to want that ! He told
me how he had refused to pass orders on a proposed prayer by
the Bishop of Calcutta for the victory of the English ; he
said that he did not approve of such things as these, and he
could pass no orders ; it was ridiculous to appeal to Jesus
Christ, who was the God of Peace, for the victory of either
side. Chelmsford was much shocked, he says, and suggested
the transference of the ecclesiastical department to himself.
Nair gladly assented to this, and then got a wigging from the
Roman Catholic Archbishop, who said he would rather have
a well-educated Hindu than a Protestant. “ So you see,”
Nair said, “ there is an advantage in being a pagan.” Chelms-
ford told me afterwards that the whole of this story is a
complete fabrication ; there was no such order and no such
incident ; that Chelmsford, as soon as he came out, suggested
to Nair that he took an interest in the Church and would like
to take over ecclesiastical matters, and Nair assented. Nair
also told me that he did not wish to be egotistical, but anything
he commended to the Indians the Indians would accept, but
if this‘was not done, nobody else could make them accept it.
As I have heard this from all other sources, I quite agree.
Nair told me that it was with great regret that he found his
relations were not good with the Viceroy ; that Hardinge
had told him when he was appointed as Education member
he should tell Hardinge what Indians thought. Hardinge
used to send him all his proposed speeches, and told him that
if he passed anything which afterwards got Hardinge into
trouble with the Indians, Hardinge would hold him
responsible ; whereas, if Hardinge disregarded his advice,

DELHI IV

199

"January 17]

the responsibility would be Hardinge’s own. Chelmsford
has done nothing of this sort, “ because,” Nair says, “ I have
lost his confidence.” He also told me that Malaviya was
very unhappy at having lost the confidence of the Govern-
ment ; that Bikaner had suggested his going and having a
talk with Chelmsford, as he once did with Hardinge, with the
result that the relations were afterwards satisfactory. Malaviya
came to Nair and asked him whether he should go ; he said
he would only go if Nair would give him a satisfactory assur-
ance that the result would be the same. Nair said : “ How
can I do this when I have no relations with Chelmsford
myself ? ” I told him that I thought he had made himself
a little difficult to his colleagues before I came out, but I
would see what I could do. He then told me that he would
naturally go on fighting his own cause, that he thought two
Indians could always do anything with the Government of
India, and that if I told him that the proposals were all I could
get, he would accept them.

I left him and came home, being very satisfied with his
attitude, and went for a short drive with Alan to Humayun’s
Tomb ; then a game of tennis and a talk with Chelmsford,
who said he was only too willing to meet Nair and Malaviya
half-way.

Following this, I went to dinner with Sir William Meyer —
nothing but financial people, and we had a very interesting
general discussion. Meyer is quite pleasant company*, with
a pretty wit.

Friday , January 18. I was taking no risks about the fateful
meeting of Chelmsford’s Council to-day. Barnes, who had
not been at the preceding meeting, returned from Calcutta,
and I sent for him to see me at half-past nine. I went over
all the ground with him and found him very friendly. He
tells me that Ronaldshay had read into our document —
how touchy these people are ! — that we had agreed on our

aoo AN INDIAN DIARY [; January 18

provincial scheme without waiting for them. Of course I
am only too much afraid that they will upset the whole apple
cart. Ronaldshay said : “ What is the use of people con-
ferring and then asking us to come ? ” Ronaldshay does not
want the liberty of private members to tax ; he also thinks
the Governor has too much power, and would like to begin
at once rather than take six years. So would Barnes. I
told Barnes that Nair reported to me that Chintamani had
come to him in great anger and said that he had heard that
I had said to a member of the Executive Council : “ The
moderates are cowards ; the extremists are hopeless ;
therefore there is no Indian public opinion.”

Then I had a very long talk with the new Director-General
of the Indian Medical Service, Edwards, Cleveland, the
surgeon, and Austen-Smith, the surgeon to the Viceroy.
We all agreed that this was a pivotal service, because without
good doctors you could not have any other good service.
They want to amalgamate the I.M.S. and the R.A.M.C.
One must, of course, swallow the other ; they naturally
wanted to swallow the R.A.M.C. I feel that any proposal
which awakes the antagonism of the War Office would be so
hard fought as not likely to succeed. You must have Indians
in the Service, and you must try and avoid separation between
civil and military, for neither would give sufficient scope to
doctors. We discussed station hospitals, the discontent of
the lower ranks of the Service, and so forth. They are going
to prepare a scheme. I suggested to them that they should
form an Imperial Medical Corps for the whole Empire, with
an Indian section, which should have Home Rule under a
director of the Imperial section, appointed on the recommenda-
tion of the Viceroy, who should have charge of promotions
and appointments. I think this scheme seems the most
hopeful. Of course they had financial grievances. I urged
them to put these as conservatively as possible ; I assured
them that I recognised the seething discontent in the Service,

January 18] DELHI IV 201

and the absolute necessity of avoiding wholesale resignations
at the end of the War.

The Council lasted a frightfully long time. The
Commander-in-Chief, who came to lunch with me in my
tent, did not arrive till two o’clock. We had much talk about
Indian munitions.

He is not at all illiberal in his views. He thoroughly agrees
with me about Boy Scouts, which he promises to take up.
He thoroughly agrees with me about the necessity of proceed-
ing with the Indian Defence Force, in which he proposes to
have Indian officers as soon as he can. He is going to make
proposals for the giving of commissions to Indians who are
acceptable to the officers and who have won distinction on
the field. He is very indignant at the idea that Englishmen
will not be led by Indians ; he said it is not in the least true ;
that Naoroji, who has been wounded as a private in France,
ought to be given a commission, and ought then to be given
his choice as to whether he wants a commission in an English
or Indian regiment : if you do not want him to be in an
English regiment, you ought not to have had him as a private.
Every private ought to have a field-marshal’s baton in his
knapsack. He very strongly objects to trying to bring
English people out to an Indian Sandhurst. He says
Islington 1 does not want Indians to come home because of the
dangers to which they will be exposed ; why should he ask
Englishmen to come out to the same dangers in Ind t ia at a
tender age ? He tells me that an Indian Service Club here
has passed a resolution to the effect that Indian officers shall
not be admitted as members. He told the Club at once that
he could not control the resolutions passed by their Committee
but he hoped they would not press him to take a course which
he might have to take if necessary, namely, to forbid English
officers to become or remain members of the Club. That is
the spirit in which to tackle this question. I was much
impressed by his vigour and the way he was handling matters.

1 Lord Islington was acting as Secretary of State for India in E.S.M.'s absent.

202 AN INDIAN DIARY [ January 18

Of course he wants to make the Indian Army part of the Home
Army. That depends, to my mind, on the size and well-
being of the Indian Defence Force and the scope it offers to
Indians. He is a warm admirer of Robertson’s.

After lunch I went up to see Chelmsford in hot haste ; it
was half-past three. On the way up Alan brought me very
gratifying news — that Chelmsford had written to Islington
in high praise of me. Maffey had shown him the letter.
That’s all right ! Chelmsford reports that the Council
this morning swallowed my proposals for the Government of
India — bless them ! Details are to be worked out between
Basu, Duke, Lowndes and Meyer.

Then tennis, and quite a harmonious meeting with my
colleagues for two hours this evening. After dinner I go
off to Patiala for two days rest, but we shall there have the
question of the Chiefs and their reforms, so that I do not
suppose it will be much rest. God, how tired I am getting !

. Verney D. A. P. H.Il. of Bikaner

[To face page 202

BREAKFAST AT PIXJORE, PAT ALIA

'January 18]

VIII

PATIALA -DELHI V— THE CROCODILE SHOOT—
DELHI VI— DHOLPUR— DELHI VII

We left Delhi at 10.30. The faithful Hailey and the red
carpet were on the platform at Delhi station. Before I went
to bed the Viceroy gave me the East India Railway Company
despatch which had been sent home some time ago. When
they telegraphed for an answer to it the India Office had asked
them to discuss it with me. It seems that they favour State
management, but have suggested a Company in India out
of deference to the local governments. I must study this
well.

Saturday , January 19. We arrived at Kalka station at
8 o’clock this morning, and were met by the Maharaja of
Patiala and Prince Hitti, of Cooch Behar, who is acting as
his A.D.C. We motored a few miles to Pinjore, an old
Patiala palace without much accommodation, situated in a
beautiful Mogul garden, with its rectangular gardens and
fountains and seven terraces — gorgeously situated in the foot-
hills of the Himalayas. We breakfasted out of doors in our
overcoats — blue sky, cold, fresh morning. It wa§ quite
glorious. Then a few more miles in the motor to meet the
elephants, on which we rode to the jungle we were going to
beat. I shall not describe the beats in detail. Suffice it to
say that the jungle was low and thick, and that we were in
large circular stone butts along the dry beds of rivers. My
armoury consisted of two guns, one loaded with shot and one
with lethal bullets, and a rifle which I had borrowed from
Mackenzie. Hitti was in my butt with me to protect me in
case I bungled a leopard coming out. It was exciting work,

203

204

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 19

and we were constantly on the look out for leopards, or even
tigers. We had no protection against them at all except our
weapons ; but nothing happened. A dead leopard cub was
picked up in the beat, gored by a pig. No big game of any
sort was shot. During one beat some very good cheetal stag
came out. I was very anxious to get one, and had been
specially given permission to shoot one, although they are
endeavouring to protect them, but owing to the mismanage-
ment of two beats at a time nobody got shots at them. A
hyena was seen, and Baring shot a fox. There were two
species of game which are very good shooting — pigeons,
which were plentiful, but which are sacred to everybody, and
pea-fowl, which flew high and fast across the narrow river
beds, but are sacred to the villagers. All we shot were hares
and jungle fowl of the red variety, which are to all intents and
purposes exactly like bantams. We got some 100 of these.
Some of them flew extraordinarily well and high, but they
were all difficult, because they were nearly all falling shots.
I have forgotten to record that Bikaner and Dholpur were
fellow guests. Dholpur is a very nice little fellow, very shy
and young. The son of a famous sporting father, he has
become an excellent shot with a gun. There were three
beats we had not time for, although everything was done to
save time ; and after an almost endless ride on an elephant
home, we reached the train so late that all thought of Patiala
that night was abandoned, and we slept on the train, dining on
it as well. Bikaner and Dholpur came to dinner, and afterwards
we played bridge with Bikaner. Patiala motored back to his
home, taking an hour and twenty minutes to go 70 miles.
This is the man who drives a Rolls Royce across country after
black buck. When you come to think of it, there were
3,500 beaters, horsemen, etc., out to kill 100 farmyard
chickens, and yet I cannot deny that the day was extraordinarily
amusing, with just a spice of excitement about it, and very
delightful after hard work at Delhi.

PATIALA

January 19]

205

In the evening the Viceroy showed me a telegram from
Ronaldshay, saying that Sinha would come later in the week.

1 Sunday, January 20. We got out of bed early and drove
to Patiala’s palace, which is situated in a nice garden. It is
new ; was planned by himself and an engineer, and has one
enormously long facade with no depth at all, but is curious
for its marvellous library. It has almost every known book,
including Hansard, and a great supply of light novels.

Donoughmore tells me that the Viceroy has asked him to
warn the Lieutenant-Governors as a conservative of the
danger of dissenting from us, and the possibility of a landslide
in England. He is obviously very nervous, and keeps on
referring to it. I am afraid, desperately afraid, that he may
say : “ Well, you see I was ready to agree with all you pro-
posed, but the local governments will not have it.” However,
the next fortnight will see success or failure. I cannot get
the thing out of my head, and I am racking my brains for
improvements all day. I suggested to Chelmsford alterations
in his speech, which he took very well.

After breakfast we started off, motored a few miles, and
then started on a great shoot — 42 elephants, a regiment of
infantry, lancers, etc., etc., etc. We rode across the grassy
jungle in a line on howdahs, with rifles and shot guns, and
shot partridges, black and grey, quail, black buck, and pig,
and Thesiger, the Viceroy’s brother, shot a wild cat. * I saw
another one, but could not get a shot at it. Shooting from
an elephant is frightfully difficult. Most people find it
easiest to stand up, with their knees bent, not touching the
sides of the howdah. I find that the danger is of falling out
if you do that. I tried a compromise, and broke my howdah !
The pig run very fast through the long grass, and only give
one rare chances. They would never be shot if pig-sticking
was possible, but the grass is too thick. Yesterday and to-day
we shot a few Norfolk plover. I think my net bag for the

206

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 20

day was about ten partridges, five hares, two black buck, and
four pigs. All would have been better if the elephants had
kept in line. Poor Clutterbuck would have had a fit if he
had seen the way they were constantly all over the place. It
was a long line, but it suffered from the fact that Bikaner and
Patiala both tried to manage it by shouting contradictory
orders. The confusion was awful, and why nobody was shot
I cannot for the life of me understand. Rifles were cracking
all round the place, and lethal pullets were being pumped into
pigs and black buck. The total bag was about 50 pigs, 12
black buck, 1 00 hares. We arrived back at Patiala thoroughly
tired from the sea-sick-like motion of the elephants, and after
dinner are going back to Delhi to meet the wild Lieutenant-
Governors.

We had a large dinner at Patiala. I sat in my usual place,
between Patiala and Dholpur. Then we drove to the station,
and went off to the fateful week at Delhi, Chelmsford genuinely
apprehensive.

Monday , January 21. Willingdon came to breakfast with
me in excellent spirits, and then we went to the scaffold.
The morning was spent in discussing finance, with a view to
getting a committee appointed. I had agreed to say nothing.
Now there are three finance schemes before us — Duke’s, or
rather Brunyate’s, Meston’s, and Meyer’s. At a conference
on finance any sensible person would have said : “ Let us
hear these three people on their own schemes first, and then
discuss them ” ; but, incredible though it may sound, the
discussion of this sort of thing in India has got to go by
seniority.

Chelmsford, therefore, asked that the three subjects —
divided heads of revenue, power of taxation, and borrowing
power — should be discussed separately, and called upon Lord
Pentland, as the senior man present, to open the discussion.
On each question he began an illuminating discussion by

HP 1

I -j

S

Ml

a

©ecua.

Dejeuner de Cbaawe

Consoram^ en tasse.
Omlette aw lard,

Poularde grillee.

Pomme Puree.

Perits pots a 1 ' Anglaise.
Obow-feure aw gratiw.

Riz et Jctmlle a 1' indienne.
Plats Varies Indiens 4 la Patiala.
Compote de frjutg [rats.
Frontage et -srurre.

Cafe.

Vins et Liqueurs,

Pinjorc Foret.

19 i n.

W)!

Luncheon menu -many miles out in the jungle of Patiala

\To face page 206

DELHI V

207

'January 21]

saying : “ I have nothing to say on this subject; it is all in
the memorandum.” Unfortunately, the memorandum, which
was prepared by the Government of Madras, has not yet
arrived ; therefore his contribution was not illuminating or
helpful, and it made him appear absolutely ridiculous. The
discussion was hopeful. O’Dwyer frankly wants divided
heads kept in order that the Government of India may protect
him against the inhabitants of the Punjab, but he was alone ;
everybody else wanted to get rid of them. Meyer, in reply
and in interjections, was excellent. Although faced with
opposition to his proposals, he was extraordinarily gentle.
He remembers everything against everybody.

I made quite a short speech, in which I pointed out that
finance should not guide policy, but was the handmaiden of
policy, and financial difficulties must be got over. It was no
use pretending you were getting rid of divided heads if you
keep land revenue divided ; and a committee of Meston,
Duke, and Meyer was appointed, with instructions to get
rid of divided heads. So that is all to the good.

I lunched in my tent with Meston, who won’t have the
preliminary period, but is prepared to go back to my original
scheme.

Then I saw O’Dwyer, who is still opposed to everything.
As his memoranda show, he is determined to maintain his
position as the idol of the reactionary forces, and to try and
govern by the iron hand. •

Benjamin Robertson, so very like Robertson of the General
Staff, was extraordinarily blunt and honest and worried, and
anxious to help. Ronaldshay was also very anxious to help.

Tuesday , January 22. I had breakfast with Sir Benjamin
Robertson, and then arrived the very critical period, really
the worst of all mornings, the one obstacle to success.

I started the ball. I had to lay before the conference the
various variants of the schemes that seemed acceptable to us.

208 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 22

I spoke for an hour, and put everything I knew into it. I
endeavoured to be as clear as possible, as conciliatory as
possible, and endeavoured to carry the day. I cannot give
myself any credit for success. Clarity I achieved ; I know
the subject by now, I hope, thoroughly. My logic I thought
unanswerable. Speaker after speaker got up, thanked me for
my frankness, my lucidity, my powerful statement, and so
forth — the same epithets that are used in the House of
Commons by those who do not intend to agree with
you.

Pentland, who was called upon to begin, said it was a most
interesting speech, and that the only way of showing their
thanks was to be as frank as I had been. But he would say
nothing ; it was all in the memorandum, which he told us
had arrived that minute and would be circulated in the
afternoon.

He was followed by Willingdon, who objected to every-
thing, to my dismay, and proposed a scheme of his own, which
was very like the transitional six years stage of January 12
scheme, but refused afterwards to consider any dyarchy or
beginning of responsibility. I cannot understand this.
Willingdon had enthusiastically endorsed the scheme of
January 12, and why he had rounded on it I cannot for the
life of me conceive.

Ronaldshay followed — very good, saying that he was a
paragraph 35 die-hard. He trounced the six years period,
but when it was pointed out to him that it was not intended
that resolutions should be binding in that time he agreed to
it, and said that it was all along what the Bengal Government
wanted. So far, so good.

I do not understand this talk about binding resolutions.
There is no sanction ; the Government does not go out if
it refuses ; and if it refuses and stays in, a resolution cannot
be enforceable in a court of law unless you give it statutory
powers.

January 22] DELHI V 209

Then followed Meston, who would not have a probation-
ary period at any price.

Then lunch with Donoughmore and Willingdon. Willing-
don agreed at lunch to take January 12 as a compromise
between his views and mine. So far, so good.

After lunch, O’Dwyer — long, pugnacious, narrow. He
would not have anything, particularly no elected majority.
Then Gait, in agreement with him ; then Earle, then
Robertson, a Willingdonian.

So ended the Lieutenant-Governors, all at sixes and sevens.

Then the most extraordinary event of the day — Sir William
Vincent — a violent speech warning us of disorder, objecting,
and saying he could never sign his name to any of the proposals,
refusing to make promises for the future, saying that our
scheme would be taken to mean a promise of responsible
government in twelve years.

Then Pentland asked to be allowed to speak, having read,
I presume, the memorandum. He suggested elected
majorities, purely advisory, and said that the Madras Council
went very smoothly. Of course it does, because he refuses
permission to deal with disagreeable subjects.

Then a short and very admirable speech from Chelmsford,
and a reply from me — vigorous, excited, bad-tempered. I
trounced Vincent, congratulated him on having made a
speech which might come from a somebody who had never
made a speech before on this subject ; told him that I insisted
upon a promise, which I would see would be carried out
because it should be statutory. I tried to bring Meston into
accepting the six years period by saying that it really amounted
to an appointed day for bringing into force an Act of Parlia-
ment, and then laying down certain things that should be
done before the appointed day.

We adjourned at quarter-past six, thoroughly tired, having
sat ever since half-past ten continuously. It was pouring
with rain by that time and icy cold. Everybody was depressed

210 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 22

and excited. I came back to my tent tired and worried,
but with a strange feeling that it will all come right.

Meston asked to see me, and we hammered out a
compromise, viz. that the Councils should remain as they
are during the transitory period, which should be fixed as
five years from the date of the report. Meanwhile, Standing
Committees would be set up, electoral arrangements made,
and so forth. I said if he could get his people to agree to
this I would accept it, but it would not give us the opportunity
of training the new electorates in the interval.

1 dined alone in my tent and thought hard.

Wednesday , January 23. In the morning Chelmsford
came to see me to suggest the Meston compromise. I
agreed ; and then I suggested a new scheme, viz. to have an
Executive Committee instead of Standing Committees after
the five years. This Executive Committee should, on B
subjects, be binding upon the departments, two members
of the Executive Committee being attached to each depart-
ment. At the end of ten years sub-committees of the Execu-
tive Committee should take over the portfolios from the
members of the Executive Council, unless cause was shown
why certain Executive Councillors should remain. This is
going to responsibility by partial responsibility, for the
members of the Executive Committee could be turned out
for the departmental decisions in which they were involved.
I rather like it. I put it to Willingdon at breakfast, and he
promised to consider it. What he wants is a complete
elected majority for ten years, and then a Statutory Commis-
sion which should give responsible government, reserving any
departments which the Government thinks ought to be
reserved. He does not think the electorate will be ready
before ten years, but he is willing to compromise, as he was
yesterday.

We had our meeting, and I put to them Chelmsford’s

DELHI V

21 1

January 23]

ideas that we should start dyarchy as a compromise five years
from the publication of the report, but to keep the existing
method of electing Councils until then. Those Provinces
that would like to have an elected majority could get it in the
existing Councils by not nominating their official members.
Nobody liked it, because they said that it was with the new
electorates that you wanted the period of training. I then
suggested to them that we should keep to the six years of the
January 1 2 proposals, but during that time associate with the
Executive Council an Executive Committee of elected
members of the Legislative Council. These men would
share the responsibility with the Executive Council when
specially consulted. They would be consulted on all B
subjects, and, at the pleasure of the Council, on A subjects.
In that they would not hold their seats on the Executive
Committee unless they were supported by the Legislative
Council, and unless they retained their seats in the Legislative
Council they had some responsibility to the electorate.
Everybody liked this and thought it was better than
Parliamentary Under-Secretaries and better than Standing
Committees. We asked Chelmsford to come and see us,
and we put it to him. He liked it. Vincent then objected
to B subjects coming automatically at the end of the six years,
and I suggested that the Government of India should have
power at the end of six years to withhold certain B subjects
pending the arrival of the Statutory Committee in the* tenth
year, and also to have the power on petition to add A subjects
on appeal, the reasons for refusing A subjects and granting
B subjects to be laid on the table of the House. Basu promised
to consider this, but obviously did not like it.

When we went to lunch we heard that the meeting of the
heads of Provinces had been a failure ; they were all at
sixes and sevens ; they had hoped to come to an agreement,
but they found it quite impossible ; that they were going to
present us with a report, and they were going to meet that

212 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 23

afternoon to see if they could come nearer. It looked as if
they would compromise on a suggestion of Ronaldshay’s,
that you should have a three-year period instead of a six-year
period, with an elected majority, which Meston agreed to
take.

I saw Meston after lunch, and he said he thought it looked
all right. I suggested to him my new plan ; and finally I
went to the meeting in the afternoon and described it to them
with a view to helping them. When they broke up in the
afternoon they had apparently not taken the new plan, or
liked it, and the compromise which Meston had expected had
broken down. He and Willingdon were ready to take it,
but Robertson and O’Dwyer refused. Meston was very
depressed when I saw him in the evening, because he said he
thought they had disgraced themselves by not being able to
help me more. He told me that he had agreed, after all,
to become finance member.

A very good paper has come in from Craddock, who damns
dyarchy, and then suggests our paragraph 35 scheme by
another name. He has got a very inadequate B list, and he
has a terminology of his own, but it is practically that scheme.

I have telegraphed to the King about Meston ; we had
better get that announced.

The afternoon was broken at four by a State visit from the
Nizam, who has come up here with all his wives and, by a
strange irony of fate, installed himself in the Baptist Mission
House. He arrived at my tent in a motor car with two
A.D.C.s and Sir Stewart Fraser. The Nizam is, of course,
enormously important to us, because he has kept the Moham-
medans of India straight, and we have used him, by means
of his wily old Ministers and our Resident, for this purpose.
But we have made all the princes very sick by segregating
him as “ His Exalted Highness.” At 7 o’clock I had to
return his visit, and went to his house, all newly furnished,
and there found almost everybody from his State — old

DELHI V

213

January 23]

Farrideeonje, old Bilgrami, Colonel Egerton, etc., etc., and
several small children. I am bound to confess that the size
of the family compared to the number of wives was rather
like our bag of jungle cock compared to the number of
beaters. We sat and talked for about ten minutes, and then
I left and went to call on Willingdon, whom I found in the
depths of depression. I commended to him Craddock’s
letter, and left him much more cheerful.

I had sent a note to Chelmsford saying that the heads of
Provinces ought to meet again ; it was ridiculous leaving
them in this condition, and we ought to postpone our talk
on agitation. Chelmsford came to Willingdon ’s tent, and
after a talk thought we had better have agitation in
the morning, as arranged, and let them meet in the
afternoon.

On the way home I met Pentland. Pentland said : “ I
want to tell you, after presiding over the meeting of heads
of Provinces, that however long we sit together it will be no
use. We are all at sixes and sevens. I have done my best
to help. I have not said anything about my views because I
regard myself as outside of this. I think everything you
suggest is wrong. I am prepared to put my views forward,
but I am afraid they are no use, so I said nothing. We shall
never get on, and it is no use our sitting again. I am only
telling you because I should like to help. You see, none of
us know what we are here for.” (This was nice, after pretty
nearly a week’s work !) “ Are we to accept the policy that

you lay down, or tell you what we think you ought to do ? ”
I said : “ You are there to suggest the best policy that you
can possibly devise. If you do not like my policy and can
suggest a better one, tear my schemes up.” “ Oh,” he said,
“ if that is what you want from us you will never get it.”
This was consoling !

I went to a large dinner party, not feeling any too happy.
The dinner party was not as bad as most, as I had the pleasure

214 an INDIAN DIARY [January 23

of meeting Sir Thomas Holland, who is a live man, and we
talked munitions.

After dinner Chelmsford sent for me into his room, and I
found him sitting domestically with his wife. They were
both most awfully sweet and mellow, and said that they
insisted upon me going out to dinner on the following night ;
that Cleveland was the best man for me to dine with ; that
Cleveland was dining with them, but they had written to
him to tell him that they could not entertain him and that he
must entertain me. It was very kind of them, because they
realised how tired I was of their enormous functions. Then
we cracked a few jokes. I told them a story, which I do not
believe, but which I had just heard, that Curtis had developed
a desire to become a Hindu ; that he had summoned some men
from the Central Provinces and told them this ; that they
said : “ No man not born a Hindu can become a Hindu.”
He said, quite characteristically : “ Oh, nonsense ; any

man can change his religion.” So they promised eventually
to consult the Pandits at Benares, and the reply came back :
“ Mr. Curtis must feed a thousand Brahmans every day for
a year. At the end of the year he must commit suicide, and
then possibly in his next incarnation he may become a
sweeper.”

Chelmsford told me that Robertson had told him that
they were all within an ace of coming to an agreement, but
that Pentland was an impossible chairman, who kept on
interrupting to say : “ Well, we seem to have agreed on

nothing, but I take it that ” and then summarising

everything completely wrongly ; so Chelmsford had suggested
that he and I should take charge of the meeting on the next
afternoon. I agreed to this ; told him that Willingdon said
he was happier, and so on ; and went to bed feeling that
light was coming out of the darkness.

Thursday , January 24. A great day 1 In the morning l

January 1 4] DELHI V 215

had a divine letter from Willingdon saying that I had cheered
him up by coming to see him ; that he had exchanged notes
with Meston ; that everything was coming right.

Then Willingdon and Meston came to see me, and said
that they had all practically agreed to a compromise, under
which, after the appointed day, any Province could start its
dyarchy as soon as they liked, but not later than six years, so
that you will have the January 12 programme in some
Provinces and paragraph 35 in others. So that is all right.

Then we went to the meeting on agitation. It was a
gloomy proceeding. Chelmsford threw out suggestions, such
as my suggestion for power to sue for criminal libel ; my
suggestion of making a paper insert a contradiction of a lie ;
my suggestion that officials should have freedom to answer
attacks upon them. Then the Governors and Lieutenant-
Governors began and went on talking. I will not record
what they said, because the best account I can give of the
meeting is by saying what I said when they had finished,
after two hours. I was then asked to give my views. I
told them that I was more depressed than I could say by what
they had said ; that I did not seem to talk the same language
as they did ; that I daresay they were right, but if they were
right, then our policy was wrong ; we need not discuss
political reform any further. The announcement of August
20 was wrong ; the Morley-Minto reform scheme was
wrong, and India ought not to have any political institutions.
It was monstrous to say that a man could not make the same
speech outside the Council that he could inside ; it was
monstrous to say that an official must be a politician inside a
Council, using his vote and influence in political matters,
sitting on Executive Councils which were really Cabinets,
and then must take no part in politics outside. Their scheme
dated from a day before Parliamentary institutions dawned in
India. I heard them say, to my amazement, that it was a
most disquieting sign that agitation was spreading to the

2l6

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 24

villages. What was the unfortunate politician in India to
do ? He was told he could not have self-government because
there were no electorate, because only the educated wanted it,
because the villagers had no political instincts ; and then
when he went out into the villages to try and make an
electorate, to try and create a political desire, he was told that
he was agitating, and that the agitation must be put a stop to.
The right answer to agitation was to remove all justifiable
causes for it, and then we had a good answer to everything
that the agitator said. Agitation should be answered by
agitation. We should try and educate the villagers ; we
should put our case ; but to sit quite quiet whilst an agitator
was agitating and then intern him showed that we had no
answer. I differed from Lord Chelmsford that we could
not intern before the pronouncement, because we had made
no effort to deal with the situation, and that we had a better
case for interning now. I told them that now we had no
case to intern because we had an answer. If our policy was
adequate, and if we thoroughly believed it, the only right
way to answer agitation was by advocating it ; that if the
Government defended itself, the moderates would soon
rally to the Government. It was only because we left the
moderates without any backing or stiffening or assistance
from the real leaders of the Government political party, the
officials, that they were so doubtful of themselves. I said
law aqd order was not my business ; I could not keep law
and order from England, and those who governed the
Provinces were responsible for it. But I could not defend
them if they did things that I did not agree with ; then I
would resign and they must get somebody else to do it. The
idea that they could get a reporter into a private house when
more than 20 people were assembled seemed to me to be a
thing that the House of Commons would never stand. They
must learn to be politicians ; they must learn to defend
themselves, and not to think of suppressing agitation. I

DELHI V

217

January 24]

told them that I had met no extremists, except Tilak and Mrs.
Besant, and even Mrs, Besant was not an extremist ; she was
a suffragette. In just the same way I had met no reaction-
aries, or only one or two, looking hard at certain people. It
was really only a matter of terms. Disaffection was an
excellent thing if it meant that you were teaching a man that
he must hope for better things. Our whole policy was to
make India a political country, and it was absolutely impossible
to associate that with repression.

Willingdon quite agreed with me ; the others looked very
gloomy.

Then the Commander-in-Chief read us a lecture, at the
invitation of Lord Chelmsford, on the War, and we separated
for lunch.

Sinha and Basu lunched with me. I put to them the
possibility that I should be asked to assent to power being
given to the Government of India to modify the B list after
the six years. They did not like it because they wanted
certainty, and I promised to try and resist it. I also put to
them that I should be asked to assent to a power of recall of
powers, and I thought this might lead to trouble. They
did not like that ; they said you could never recall once it
was given, but it would give the extremists something to
hit the moderates with. They were very nice, although I
fear that Basu was a little sobered and not so certain of the
future as he said he was. We talked about the formation
of a moderate party ; they were very enthusiastic ; and
talked about editing newspapers, and so forth. I think they
mean business.

Then to the meeting of heads of Provinces. Meston
produced his compromise. It differs from the January 12
plan in two essential points. One is, as I have said, that we
shall start dyarchy in some Provinces sooner than in others ;
the other is that they want power of recall of B subjects to
the Committee. They did not put it that way, but I put it

21 8 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 24

to - them that these were the only two points, and they agreed.
It is very essential, because I cannot take their wording. I
told them that I would not wrangle about wording, because
that must be left to me in drafting the Bill. All I understood
was that they wanted a safeguarded power of recall, which I
could try and get for them.

I think it is all over. We meet to consider the compromise
of the local governments with the Government of India
to-morrow, and then we have to sit down to details, the scheme
being agreed and the chances of friction practically over.
My trouble is that we may whittle away a good scheme by
finicky safeguards, such as this recall of powers, power to
modify the B list, and so forth, so as to make it unacceptable
to the Indians, but I am still going to put it to the Indians.
If we can get the details properly worked out and the princes
fitted in, I shall feel fairly satisfied with my mission, but
always with the horror before me that the scheme will be
acceptable to no one when it is published, and I am bound
to say I am very apprehensive of this, because I do not think
they like dyarchy. All depends on the A and B lists, which
are now going to be remitted to a committee consisting of
Vincent, Roberts, Willingdon, Nair, O’Dwyer, Lowndes.

I had a game of tennis. The Nizam came and watched
with his whole family and staff. He is dining here on
Monday, and I have been asked to dine out because they do
not w^nt him to feel that my precedence of him is embarrassing
to him. Really, this is ridiculous, and they are going to
have trouble with this man by exalting him into a position of
kingship.

We were all disturbed and very shocked by the manner of
death of poor Duff. I am constantly haunted in talking to all
men who have committed the indiscretion of assuming public
office and in thinking of my own position by the knowledge
of the small dividing line which exists between considerable
success and catastrophic failure. If Duff had been sent out

January 24]

DELHI V

219

when Creagh was sent out, he must have done better than
Creagh, and I believe would have gone down to history as
a very successful Commander-in-Chief. He found himself,
a man of essentially civilian mind, plunged into a great
position in a war. He suffered, like all of us, from domestic
casualties, and finally an overdose of veronal after the
Mesopotamian Commission Report, after a controversy in
which no one has had anything to say for him. India is
full of stories as to how he disregarded advice, but then how
many of us disregard advice which is showered upon us all
day. It is a sad business, and I cannot help remembering
how I insisted, to the best of my power, on his appointment
in preference to that of Ian Hamilton. Would the latter have
been better ?

I had my little dinner at Curzon House with Cleveland, and
a merry evening it was. The other guests were Keeling,
the engineer of New Delhi, and Mant, of the Revenue Depart-
ment. We laughed and told stories all through dinner, and
afterwards played bridge.

Friday , January 25. Slocock, 1 of the Central Provinces,
came to breakfast with me, and I think we got closer together
than we have done in the past, but he is very talkative and
pugnacious. I have got to have another talk with him
to-morrow morning at breakfast.

We had a meeting this morning with the Government of
India. Real difficulties are arising which will have to be
met. The transitional period that we have got to have to
oblige Willingdon, Robertson and Gait will give to the
Legislative Assembly powers over A subjects which, after
this transitional period, will go to the A Council. The
1 ith, 1 2th, or 13th commandment is : “ Thou shalt not take
butter out of a dog’s mouth.” We have got to get over
these difficulties without whittling away our scheme. I told
the people that I had thought of a way of drafting, which

1 F. S. A. Slocock, C.I.E. (Chief Secretary to Chief Commissioner, Central
Provinces).

220

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 25

Meyer described as camouflage, which has the advantage of
getting rid of the separation between A and B subjects,
dividing subjects as to whether they shall be dealt with in
the Council or the Assembly : — Not later than six years after
the passing of this Act there shall be a Legislative Assembly,
whose prime functions are in schedule I of this Act, and a
Legislative Council, whose prime functions are not in schedule
1, each being able to advise the other as to their prime func-
tions. The Ministry shall consist of members of the Legisla-
tive Assembly, who shall have charge of the portfolios in
schedule 1, and members of the Legislative Council, half of
whom shall be Indians, who shall have charge of the portfolios
not mentioned in schedule 1. I think this will make the
thing look better and get rid of dyarchy, which stinks in
people’s nostrils as a word.

It was quite amicable, and in order to make quite sure
everything was going right I lunched with Nair. I hear
the heads of Provinces are rather alarmed about my speech
yesterday on agitation.

I had some talk with Chelmsford about princes. It is
quite clear that he will go all the way with me, and that the
last point of difference is now disappearing.

To-night the Commander-in-Chief is entertaining us to
dinner — the members of the Executive Council and the
heads of Provinces. Chelmsford and I have got to make
speeches. The trouble is I have no time to think of what to
say, and I am terribly stale — more stale than I can possibly
describe. I now begin to say Standing Committee when I
mean Government of India, and Legislative Council when I
mean motor car.

So I close my mail, on the whole very pleased when I think
what we have got : complete provincial decentralisation ; at
least half Indians on every Executive Council ; at least two
Indians on the Governor’s Council ; a Second Chamber in
the Government of India ; disappearance of official blocs,

DELHI V

221

January 25]

responsible government coming as quickly as possible in
the Provinces ; abolition of divided heads of revenue ; and,
I hope, proper treatment of the princes. It all seems to me
to be splendid, but “ There’s many a slip ’twixt the cup and
the lip.”

The dinner to-night was a great success. Some 75 people
sat down to dinner, people in the Indian world who, I suppose,
were unique in the history of the country. I thought it
was simply a dinner of the members of the Council and their
wives to the members of my delegation and the heads of
Provinces, but all sorts of people were there — secretaries,
Sir Thomas Holland, and so forth. The room had been
built originally as the post office for the Durbar, and was as
full as it would hold.

As regards the speeches, I do not remember having heard
three better speeches than those delivered by my fellow
guests after dinner — none too long or too short, and all
extraordinarily good. My only regret was that my speech
was, I must confess, fourth best. The toast was proposed
by the Commander-in-Chief, whose manner, rather than his
words, was extraordinarily successful ; and the way in which
he laughed at his own jokes and beamed round the room made
whatever he said a success. But he had many witty touches.
Perhaps the one that was most appreciated was his attack on
his colleagues for making him do it, coupled with a sudden
remark, blurted out : “ No one knows their own abilities
better than my colleagues do.” Chelmsford followed, leading
off with the most undisguised split infinitive that ever dropped
with a thud upon a dinner table. But apart from this, his
speech was very good ; his banter of the heads of Government
extraordinarily successful, coupled with compliments to
Pentland — “ A perfect English gentleman.” Also his little
quotation about the way in which Mrs. Besant’s name was
not mentioned at Madras : “ Oh ! no, we never mention
her. Her name is never heard,” etc. But it was a curious

222

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 25

speech for Chelmsford, and it contained things which I was
surprised to hear from his lips. He had obviously been
reading the Athanasian Creed as blasphemously paraphased
to represent the commands in Egypt, and as he was responding
to a toast to three people he played with the Trinity at con-
siderable length and elaboration. It was appreciated, and I
have no reason to complain, but it was strange for him in
such an audience. He later on told a story about a friend of
his, a bishop, who forbade his servants to use his bathroom,
and who came back from what is properly called a “ visita-
tion ” in the case of bishops to discover a long black hair
in his bath. Discovering it was the cook’s, he reprimanded
her for doing behind his back what she would never dare to
do in front of his face ! Could this have been the real
Chelmsford ? It must have been written by Maffey or
somebody.

Pentland’s speech, which came last, was beautifully worded,
extraordinarily well delivered, reserved, serious, in contrast
with all the others, and contained a very much applauded and
peculiarly appropriate tribute to the district officer.

I have little to say about my own, except that it was
distinguished by some quite apt quotations that I was fortunate
enough to find. Alan provided two good lines, I think from
Ulysses :

“ Much have I seen and known, cities and men,

‘And manners, climates, councils, governments.”

The third line, which I stated I would not quote in the hope
that some of the audience would at least remember it, ran :

“ Myself not least, but honoured of them all.”

The next in the serious line I got from Morley, and comes
from Burke : “ Reflect seriously on the possible consequences
of keeping in the hearts of your community a bank of dis-
content, every hour accumulating, upon which every company
of seditious men may draw at pleasure.”

January 25] DELHI V 223

But perhaps the most successful were three quotations,
which had to be used with niceness, from Pepys : “ In the
afternoon, my lord and lady being at cards in his room, in
comes Mr. Edward Montagu. He did rip up all that could
be said to be unworthy and in the basest terms they could be
spoken in. To which my lord answered with great good
temper and did allay him so that he fell to weeping.” (I
liked the last lines particularly myself, for Chelmsford’s great
good temper does make one weep sometimes, but perhaps
not in the sense that Pepys meant of my famous namesake.)
“ My lord so much contemns Mr. Edward Montagu, as my
lord knows himself very secure against anything the fool can
do ; and notwithstanding this, so noble is his nature that
he professes himself ready to show kindness and pity to
Mr. Montagu on any occasion.” “ Mr. Edward Montagu
is turned out of the court never to return again. So he is
gone, nobody pitying, but laughing at him.”

I came home and spent three-quarters of an hour in walking
up and down the garden outside my tent, cold though it was,
because I am not happy. The Lieutenant-Governors and
heads of Provinces have been rather poor creatures. They
have put their names to a compromise which none of them
believe in, and they are going away very sore at heart.

Saturday , January 26. This morning Slocock came to
breakfast, and our conversation gave me a new idea, certainly
an idea which he liked better than any yet proposed. I had
in my mind Sastri’s reported comment upon our schemes :
“ For God’s sake do not separate us into an A house and a
B house. We want to work with the officials, and not to be
penned off from them.” We began with the intention of an
A Government and a B Government, which has been modified
into an A committee and a B committee of the same Govern-
ment. Why do we, then, want two houses ? Let us go on
the principle of keeping them together for deliberation, and

224 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 26

separating them for decision. During the first six years we
have an Ordinance Committee for A subjects — call it a Grand
Committee, in composition much like the present Council,
either binding, in which case it must be an official majority,
or advisory, in which case it does not matter. Then in a
second period, when your B Ministers come into existence,
you have a Council, with the Governor as President and an
elected member as Vice-President. After discussion on the
B subjects, a Bill goes to a B Select Committee, and is finally
ratified by the B members, the A members not voting. An
A Bill, after joint discussion, goes to the Grand Committee,
whose decision is final.

We had a short meeting to say good-bye to the heads of
Provinces ; heard of the very satisfactory financial solution,
which Meyer accepts with reluctance, and then said good-bye.

I then proceeded to lobby on behalf of my new scheme.
Meston thinks it has great advantages, but prefers his own for
his own Province. I told him that my scheme seemed to
me to be an essential result of the six years trial period, because
you could not take butter out of a dog’s mouth, but that if
he started at once there was no harm in his having two houses,
and that my scheme could develop into two houses even in the
other Provinces. It looks to me as if we ought to state that
responsible government is our goal, and that the Provinces
can march to it by either of two methods. All the other
Provinces enthusiastically welcomed it.

I lunched with Sly, 1 vigorous in his hatred of the old
scheme, but liking the new one. He takes A and B subjects
reluctantly, but he has to admit that even he does not call
them by this name ; he has got to recognise there are A and
B subjects.

Robertson, Gait, and Earle went away delighted ; so did
O’Dwyer ; so did Sinha and Basu. Willingdon says his
committee on A and B subjects has done quite good work,
and he is quite satisfied. He is leaving happier, and Chelms-

^ 1 Sir F. G. Sly, K.C.S.I; (Commissioner, Central Provinces).

January 26] THE CROCODILE SHOOT 225

ford promised them that the conference of heads of Govern-
ments should be annual. That is a great achievement in
itself.

Most of the day was spent very fatiguingly in airing my
new scheme to each of them separately, and finally at eight
o’clock I sat down to dinner in my tent, feeling much happier,
with Cleveland. At nine o’clock we started off to motor
50 miles to a Dak bungalow in the United Provinces at a
place called Garhmuktesar, where we slept the night. I was
awfully cold when I arrived, but Cleveland, the perfect host,
had provided a cup of hot soup and a whisky and soda. We
got to bed about twelve, and I slept like a log till six, when I
was called.

Sunday , January 27. A beautiful, cold morning, sun
shining brightly. Then a motor drive of some eight miles
along a canal bank, the level top of which is always kept for
the canal officer to go along, the public not being allowed to
go along it. Then two miles on a very fast elephant, and we
reached the bank of the Ganges. By this time the wind was
high and strong, and it was obvious we were not going to have
a successful morning. Crocodiles come out of the water in
the heat, and the sand of the banks was blowing in such
clouds that sometimes you could not see the banks at all.
Why should a crocodile lie on them ? However, we got
into Cleveland’s boat, a little, flat-bottomed punt of, great
stability, with an oil engine fixed to the stern to help us when
we had to go across the current, and behind us came a large
barge to carry the crocodiles. Long distances, past sand-
banks, which in better weather would have been perfect
places for crocodiles, yielded nothing. Finally, on a small
strip of sand in the water, near a high bank, we saw a very
large crocodile. We determined to land and stalk from the
bank. At that moment a boy came running along shouting
at the top of his voice : “ There’s a big mugger, there's a

226

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 27

big mugger,” and, of course, the mugger disappeared into
the water. They are strangely quick in their movements and
extraordinarily quick of hearing. They just gently subside
until they disappear, and they always seem to lie very close to
deep water, so that unless the animal is killed stone dead
without a movement, although you have the satisfaction of
knowing that you have taken one of these beastly things out
of the river, you do not recover the body or the prized leather.
We were about to give it up when suddenly we saw two heads
come out of the water at the same place. We sat down and
ate our breakfast, which was to do as lunch, it being then eleven,
and which consisted mainly of the cold hump of an ox, which
was quite excellent, like the best pressed beef, and by that
time the large mugger was back again on the strip of sand.

Then I did a very cautious stalk and got to the top of the
cliff, some 90 yards from the mugger. Drawing a very
careful bead, I fired. The bullet hit him a tremendous
whack ; he lay lashing with his tail for about four seconds,
and then disappeared into the water. The betting is a
thousand to one against you in this game.

Then another very long and cold journey down stream.
Finally, a huge garial, which is supposed to live entirely on
fish, has a long thin nose, and always grows to a much bigger
size than the crocodile, was seen in the middle of the water.
There was no way to approach him. We simply travelled
down, as near as we could to him, and when he showed signs
of movement I fired at about 200 yards. The bullet went
just over his back.

The next incident was a large crocodile, who saw us before
we saw him. Boat going hard, engines at work up and down,
crocodile moving ; a wild shot from me and another from
Cleveland left him unscathed.

To cut a long story short, the only other two shots I got
were these. We saw the biggest crocodile I have ever seen
in my life lying on a spit of sand, separated by a narrow

January 27] THE CROCODILE SHOOT 227

channel of water, below one of these sand cliffs. If we could
have got above him, the shot would have been simple at
about 40 yards, but although he could not see us, he heard
the grass moving on the top, knew that it was not cattle, and
when we looked out he had disappeared. Beyond him were
two much smaller crocodiles. I stalked to them, fired as
one left the land for the water, the other just beginning to
move. I got him ; I hit him in the right place, and shot
again before he could get away. So we bagged him, but he
■was only about 7 ft. long and had not much leather on him.
It was a great disappointment that the grass was so thick
so that we did not get the big one.

Late in the evening I got another shot at a big garial,
also from a bank after a stalk. It was a desperate shot,
500 yards away, but I hit him in the right place, because he
lashed his tail and appeared unable to move ; but the trouble
about crocodile shooting is that nearly always you want two
shots, and if you do a gallery shot with the first barrel, you
cannot repeat it with the second. I had time to have three
more shots at him, and Cleveland two ; but the light was
failing, the distance was great, and accuracy was impossible.
Alas ! he got away, only to die at once ; but they are ir-
recoverable.

It is very pleasant work and requires very good marksman-
ship, and at the same time is doing extraordinarily good work.
But it is very difficult and disheartening if one wants leather,
as Cleveland does, because he makes it a business. He told
me that on a clear day we should have at least 25 shots at
crocodiles, and we ought to have bagged about eight. As it
was, I missed two, and should have had three with any luck.
It was very pleasant. Cleveland is the best and kindest of
hosts. There was no flurry and organisation ; it was like
a rough day in England. I like him more and more. He is
very simple, and so keen, and such a charming host. It is
difficult to believe him as head of the C.I.D., and a successful'

228

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 27

head. During the last year the revolutionary movement has
practically been scotched. Fifty absconders were giving
them great trouble. They have got all of them now except
1 5, and in order to catch each one, he is starting a new organisa-
tion. If we can catch these 15 before they do any new harm,
things are promising, but it looks very much like a race
between the police and their organising ability. It is curious
how we use Indians for this work and how reliable they are.
Cleveland told me that a man who was doing the work in
Europe with him years ago, when he came back from England
in 1913 had obviously become unreliable, and is now a
leading anarchist, so we sometimes fail. When he was in
Europe I remember him as always being suspected of being
recognised as one of the three leading anarchists in Europe,
but he was not an anarchist at all, but a spy. Now he appears
not to have become a spy, but an anarchist. He threatens to
publish his experiences of the C.I.D., but Cleveland says he
can do no harm ; he never knew any work but his own. It
is true he can say we have spies in the anarchist camp, but
then as the Indian anarchist suspects every other anarchist
of being a spy, I do not think this much matters.

I got a most awful cold and am feeling very rheumaticky
this (Monday) morning.

For the rest, we saw many darters, many eagles, great
quantities of ruddy sheldrakes or Brahmany ducks, as they
are called here, a few mallard, some black storks, some
goggle-eyed plovers, a few sandpipers, and some godwits.
The big muggers always seem to have birds in attendance,
who often, Cleveland tells me, warn them.

We motored back 30 miles and had dinner on a canal
bank, round a large fire — very pleasant and quite a good
dinner. The terrible cough that had been bothering me
all day long seems to have left as suddenly as it came, and
to have left rheumatism. It has been a strenuous day. We
had 40 miles to motor after dinner, which went very slowly.

DELHI VI

January 27]

229

Cleveland slept all the time ; I cannot sleep in a car,
particularly an open one. We had a special pass to allow us to
get over the big Jumma Bridge after dark, but, unfortunately,
all the sentries were asleep, and it took half an hour before we
could get somebody to climb over and wake them up. We
got into Delhi at last, and I went to bed.

Monday , January 28. I woke up quite early and turned
over the political situation as it struck me after a rest, and; I
think I have got a suggestion which may possibiy get rid of
A subjects. The more one examines the A list, it looks as
if it ought to consist of nothing except those things in which
the Government of India is interested. Law and order it is
interested in, and this definition applied to everything except
land revenue. If we could get over land revenue, it would
look as if the B men with the new governments would have
control of everything which was really essentially provincial.

We have got a meeting this morning at eleven, to which I
propose to put this suggestion.

I have very little to record. The visit of the heads of
Provinces and its great strenuousness has left me absolutely
limp.

We had a very successful meeting of our delegation, and
we went through the whole of the topics now outstanding.
The new scheme, under which an A house and a B house in
the Provinces is avoided, was received by all with entlfusiasm
as a great improvement, and it was agreed to go ahead with
this. We received the satisfactory results of the Committee
on A and B subjects, and we came to three determinations :
(1) to push again the Administrative Committee idea in the
first six years as being a great improvement on Standing Com-
mittees ; (2) that Vincent and Basu together should write a
note on Indianisation ; (3) that Duke, Kisch, and Seton should
confer as to the future of the India Office, ( a ) its constitution ;
( b ) its relations to the House of Commons ; (c) its relations

230

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 28

to the Government of India. I am bound to say I am much
struck by Hirtzel’s suggestion that previous sanction ought
to be abolished, the right of veto being retained. If the
Home Government then interfered, it would be only after
public opinion in India had been expressed. If the Viceroy
and his Government were going to do something of which
his Legislative Council would disapprove, knowing the risk
of veto, he would informally obtain the approval of the
Secretary of State first. If the Secretary of State were going
to veto, he would do it only with reluctance if he knew that
public opinion was behind the Government of India.

After lunch I saw the Viceroy — a very cordial meeting, and
we discussed the situation generally. He seemed very pleased
with the way things were going. He also is very tired, and
apparently spent most of Sunday in bed. We discussed
various matters that ought to be in the report, and felt that
we must say something about social difficulties between
Indians and Europeans, caste and caste, Mohammedans and
Hindus. We are not going to have any further discussion
on lubricants, but the Viceroy is going to give me his assurance
of what he is going to do.

In the evening I dined with Maffey, to avoid meeting the
Nizam.

Tuesday , January 29. Lowndes, Hill, Donoughmore and
I had U long talk about the new scheme. They were all in
agreement. Lowndes wants to extend it to the Government
of India instead of an Upper House. I do not much like
this idea. Our scheme for the Government of India is not
comparable at all to our scheme for the local governments,
and the more we accentuate the difference the better. Besides,
if we do not get a Second Chamber now, we shall never get
one.

Then I had a letter from Alwar urging that the deputation
of princes should be postponed for three weeks, and I went

DELHI VI

231

January 29]

up to see the Viceroy. Before that Maffey came to see me
and told me that the Viceroy was considering going to
Mesopotamia : had I any views ? I determined that if the
Viceroy really wanted to go to Mesopotamia we could go
together on my way home, and that I would telegraph to the
Prime Minister for his views. It would, to my mind, be
enormously useful to go, but, on the other hand, no human
being can realise how anxious I am now to get home, and
anything that prolongs my absence causes me infinite regret.
It will be heartrending to find how small India, which is
absorbing the whole of my mind and activities, will loom
when I get home.

The Viceroy and I agreed at our interview that Alwar
should be told that the deputation of princes could not be
postponed, and that although the princes had not obtained
the ratification of all their number to their proposals
a preliminary talk would be useful, but it was impossible
to contemplate any conference of all the princes at Delhi.
I told Chelmsford about Mesopotamia and Maffey’s con-
versation, and he promised to let me know to-day.

I then had some talk with Donoughmore ; some talk with
Duke about the Government of India ; told him that the
Viceroy agreed with me that a Second Chamber was necessary,
and then went up to lunch.

Then, tired out, I went to sleep. Afterwards I met the
Viceroy at tennis, and he told me that he had contemplated
feeding the British Army in India on beef from Australia,
but had to give it up when he discovered that you could buy
beef for i£d. per pound in parts of India. He told me that
a motor car had dashed a few days ago through the Kyber
Pass, the two occupants of which had been detained on the
railway between Peshawar and Lahore, and it was suspected
that one of them was the fourth son of the Amir, who had
apparently run away from his father. Enquiries are pending.

After tennis I had a long talk with Curtis ; interesting, as

232 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 29

usual. He began by telling me that he had come here to
stay with the Viceroy because the Viceroy thought he would be
of use, but he could not accept Chelmsford’s hospitality
without telling Chelmsford that he was not going any longer
to take action at the end of the War about Chelmsford’s
prohibition of Indian civilians joining round table groups ;
he came as a disarmed man, but he did hope that civil servants
would get more political liberty. I told him what had been
occurring in this connection, and he was quite satisfied. We
discussed the possibility of Gourlay editing a magazine for
Indian civil servants, to keep them informed of political
developments, and of running a propagandist department,
and he liked it enormously. He tells me that unless some-
thing of this sort is done Gourlay proposes to go to England
at the end of the War and devote himself to educating Indians
in London. This is splendid work, of course, but is very
fruitless, and I think Gourlay is too good for it.

I dined in ; had one rubber of bridge, and then a very
long talk with Chelmsford. He approved of everything that
Curtis had suggested, and told me of Lowndes’ difficulties,
of two houses in the Government of India and the segregation
of officials. He suggests a compromise of a Grand Committee
scheme such as in the Provinces, together with an Upper
House of Notables. All my radical instincts jib at an Upper
House of Notables. I think the committee must go a little
further, Meyer and Lowndes on the one hand, and Basu and
Duke on the other, and if they cannot arrive at a compromise,
Chelmsford and I must take charge.

Wednesday , January 30. This morning I had a talk in
this direction with Duke, who agrees.

I spent the morning dictating notes, as material for our
report. This is going to be my main work for the next
few days. In the afternoon I had a long sitting with
Chelmsford and Wood about the princes. It was not at

DELHI VI

January 30]

233

all satisfactory. They want to leave everything in a very
woolly condition, and I am not at all sure that it is not true
that we shall have to be very indefinite in our recommend-
ations. The great thing is to show the way. Wood is
particularly of the school which wants to keep the princes
in cold storage. Zealously criticising every word of their
address, always looking for an encroachment upon Government
of India privileges, I can understand the irritation that is
caused.

In the evening I had a very long talk with Curtis, which
was very satisfactory. I think he is in whole-hearted agree-
ment with us, and thinks we have done well.

Then dinner at the Commander-in-ChiePs. I was told
that these informal dinners that the Commander-in-Chief is
so fond of giving were most delightful. I like the old man
enormously, and I like his wife, too. On my other side sat
Sir Charles Cleveland, who, I understand, is now being
invited to meet me wherever I dine, and held out as a bait
for me when I am given dinner invitations, much as a young
and beautiful woman is sometimes associated with a particular
man in England. I like him, although I think he has over-
done the C.I.D., but he has certainly a great success to his
name.

I must record a story which strikes me as worth
remembering.

After Hardinge’s bomb, it occurred to the C.I.©. that
they would like to know the whereabouts of a man who had
previously been associated with bombing. They got hold of
an old spy and informer, and promised him a thousand
rupees reward for the detection of the man. He found the
man living in a village in Indore and qualifying for his
matriculation examination. As the man in his former incarna-
tion was a B.A. of Edinburgh University, this struck Cleveland
as very amusing. He said he was doing no harm, and they
did not interfere with him. He introduced him to his wife,

234

AN INDIAN DIARY [January 30

whom he had deserted to go to Edinburgh and France to
be associated with the anarchist group there. The informer
got his thousand rupees, and was so pleased with it that he
said he would get for Cleveland any other man he wanted
in India. Cleveland said he wanted nobody else at present.
The old man then said that if he was given a lakh he would
introduce Cleveland to Nana Sahib ! He persisted in assuring
Cleveland that he need not pay a penny until he was convinced
that it was Nana Sahib. Cleveland came to the conclusion
that to find Nana Sahib in 1913 might be embarrassing, and
was not worth a lakh, and the informer is now dead ; but I
am bound to confess that this story that Nana Sahib was alive —
I presume he must be over 90 — four or five years ago is very
thrilling to me. I wonder if we shall ever hear his whole
story of the last 50 years 1 If I had a lakh I should pay it
gladly to have a talk with him about the Mutiny, and I should
have liked to see him hanged.

Thursday , January 31. A heavy cold ; very slack. Spent
morning on the mail. Very satisfactory in many ways.
Uneasy about omissions from air-raid news. I discovered
that a bomb fell in Queen Anne’s Gate, six doors from my
own house — a “ dud.” Nothing mentioned in correspond-
ence, but my valet has it from his brother. Thought at
first it was not true, but fear that raid was not mentioned in
my letters at all so as to avoid mention of this. Of course,
a “ dud ” bomb may be a shrapnel shell which does not burst
on reaching ground. India Office letters contained a reference
to the fact that the Reforms Committee has decided on a
scheme of financial devolution closely in agreement with the
results of last week’s work. This is very satisfactory.

In the afternoon I had an interview with Prosanto K. Sen,
who tells me that the Congress was a great failure and the
feeling against Mrs. Besant is running high.

Then rather a nice little interview with old Jaipur, who

January 31] DELHI VI 235

apparently agrees with all the recommendations of the Ruling
Chiefs Committee. I expected him to be very conservative.
To hear him talking about chambers of princes and arbitration
boards, and so forth, and to see him driving up in a two-
horse carriage, because he objects to motor cars as modern
inventions, was rather remarkable. Progress with these
Chiefs is a very thin veneer, and usually comes from a trusted
Diwan.

Then a glorious drive with Lady Chelmsford in the country.
We had a very interesting afternoon. We went first to the
Mosque and Tomb of Nizam-ud-din. It is a very pretty
place, full of interesting old tombs, with glorious marble
doors, of rather late in the 18 th century ; the tomb of one
of Shah Jahan’s daughters, interesting because, alone of all
the tombs, she objected to a marble top, and insisted upon
grass growing out of the top of hers, which it does ; and in
the centre a very deep green tank, into which, from startling
heights, boys jump head first. But the interesting part
of it was that we had fixed upon a day upon which a great
pilgrimage was going on. The whole place was swarming
with holy Mohammedans of all ages and all sexes — women
closely veiled, prostrate in prayer ; unkempt men ; crowds
rushing about shouting their prayers ; holy men nearly
naked and unkempt, shouting on the name of Allah ; the
Mosque crowded with people praying ; the tombs covered
with offerings of vegetables and covered with rose leaves ;
everywhere wild Mohammedan eyes, and we the only two
Europeans, welcomed, people endeavouring to explain every-
thing to us in languages we could not understand, although
Lady Chelmsford talks Hindustani. How on earth we ever
escaped the C.I.D. and the police I do not know. Then on
to one of Delhi’s oldest cities, Tughlakabad, right out in the
country, with a glorious view over the plains of Delhi and
the Kutb three miles off *, great ruddy walls in ruin ; a nice
tomb ; fine rocks all set in among the young corn.

236 AN INDIAN DIARY [January 31

In the evening I had a talk with Marris, who is rather
upset about the Civil Service, who fears that everything is
crumbling under them. They approve schemes one by one,
and find that nothing is being left. I tried to soothe him.
Bridge at Government House, and so to bed.

Friday , February 1. Duke and Basu have got a good
scheme for the Government of India. I do not know whether
Meyer and Lowndes will accept it.

I had another talk with Curtis in the afternoon, the main
upshot of which was that he wants me to express my own
opinion even when it differed from Chelmsford’s, because he
thought it was a duty to the Cabinet. I find I see eye to eye
with him on every question, but I have since had a letter from
him in which he says this is due to suppression, and he wants
another interview.

At three o’clock Chelmsford and I had an interview with
Sastri, which lasted till half-past four. Chelmsford professed
himself very pleased with it. I told him the scheme, and I
must say I was rather depressed. He would not commit
himself to anything ; he thought there would be no objection
to what we proposed among the minority, which would become
the majority. This does not look, from the so-called leader
of the moderates of India, like any enthusiasm for the scheme.
It increased my certainty that although I have had a great
success with the Government of India, the local governments,
and a personal success with deputations, I think our remedies
will fall far short of the circumstances of the country. Sastri
reverted to the idea of discussing the matter with chosen
Indians, and he and Basu promised to prepare a list again.

In the evening Bikaner came to see me. He told me that
Alwar had reverted to the idea that he did not like to refer
to their alliance with the King as a privilege ; he even,
according to Bikaner, objected to the use of the term “ Govern-
ment of India,” and wanted to call it “ the Crown’s Govern-

DELHI VI

February i]

237

ment of India.” He also, according to Bikaner, objected to
the use of the word “ Chamber,” just as he objected to the
use of the word “ Council,” and now wants “ Assemblage.”
I told Bikaner that Alwar was wrong in thinking Councils
were always summoned by a superior body ; what about the
Council of Public Schools, the London County Council, and
so forth. A Chamber was not an ambiguous term, although
it might refer to lavatory accommodation ; so might a
“ Cabinet.” “ Assemblage ” only meant, to my knowledge,
a journalistic word to signify a meeting of crows. I told
Bikaner that although we would always defend the States
against interference by British Indians, yet British Indians
would be bound to criticise more and more if Indian Native
States did not come into line with modern developments.
He said he quite agreed, and expected bombs in Native
States. I asked how many Native States had separate civil
lists, and he said : “ Very few.” He himself has. He
takes five per cent, of the revenues, but they give him some
motor cars, some electric light, some furniture for his palaces*
and so forth, but taking it as an inclusive sum he thinks it
will work out at under 10 per cent. He says that when he
came to the throne he only got under the arrangement one
lakh a year ; now he gets three lakhs, and he has only
succeeded in saving 30 lakhs in 20 years, which is his whole
personal property, although 21 lakhs of this was a debt
recovered, through the Government of India, from th^ State,
of money which had been wrongfully taken by the State from
his mother. This confirms my impression that India is a
cheap country for a rich man, although a dear country for a
poor one.

Then dinner, after which we left for my much-needed week-
end. Before leaving I pressed into Chelmsford’s hand the
various notes for the report, explaining to him that they were
only as the basis for discussion.

238 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 2

Saturday , February 2. At Dholpur we had a royal time.
Nothing could have been nicer than our greeting, our welcome,
and our host. He is a gentleman, if ever there was one —
well-educated, shy, with a gentle demeanour and a reserved
manner which is most attractive. No one would think he
was of the same age as Patiala. He looks a mere boy, although
he is over 27.

Quite a gifted musician on the Indian national instrument,
which looks like a big guitar ; he plays it very well
in his own gentle way. An excellent shot, he is a real
sportsman.

After breakfast at a very nice and modest red-stone palace,
tiled all over with Doulton sanitary tiles, we motored some
13 miles to Sat Kezari, and then on to our first beat. Com-
fortably ensconced on the edge of a cliff, we had a delightful
view across the jungle and fine plains to the Gwalior Hills.
The beat was managed by a curious Frenchman, Honret,
a descendant of a French prisoner of war in 1815, whose
father had been in the service of Gwalior. He quarrelled
with Gwalior, where he had been his tiger hunter for 20
years, and last year came to Dholpur. The beat was extra-
ordinarily interesting, full of sambhur, black buck, chincara,
pigs, but no stags came forward. There was a tiger in it,
although the beat had missed it. It appeared suddenly on
a rock high up away to the right of the landscape when we
were %11 concentrated on the left, and it dashed off over the
hill, followed by two shots from Verney and his company
away to our right. It was a big tiger, and poor little Dholpur
was very much disappointed. It was just one of the un-
fortunate circumstances of war. Afterwards a bear came
ambling down the hill towards us, the first I had seen. I
fired at it too soon and missed it, and then again, when I
think I hit it. Donoughmore sent it rolling down the hill ;
it got up again and I finished it off. Whose it was will
always remain a mystery. There were four bullet wounds

To face page ^38

MOTORING AT DHOLPUR

DHOLPUR

February 2]

^39

in it, but many people shot at it when it was wounded. It was
a big bear, over 6 ft. in length.

Then lunch at Tal Tabli and another beat. We were on
a small tower in one of those indescribable ravines with views
all round. There were several fine sambhur stags. I killed
a blue bull first ; then I gave Donoughmore a chance at a
sambhur, which he killed — a very fine one with 37 in. horns.
Parsons did a marvellous shot right across our front and killed
another sambhur, but a smaller one; then another bear, which I
wounded, but which disappeared after scratching three men,
not very severely. One of them, I found out afterwards, who
said he was scratched by the bear sat down on a thorn bush 1

Then home to dinner, after a most delightful day. On the
way home I was presented with a poem, a copy of which I
append. The poor man who presented it was greeted with
roars of laughter from everybody who read it. We behaved
very badly, led by Dholpur, but it could not be helped, as
anybody who reads may see.

Tal Tabli' s Jungle Echo on February 2, 1918.

At the time of the

Secretary of the States Shooting Visit.

1 Tal Tabli’s lovely tank and sacred place,

How pure ’tis looking in its natural grace.

2 The more so as the Secretary of the State
Has given it honour with his good mate.

3 How do the beautiful Jungle branches bow,
How good the beasts of prey do jump in row.

4 As if saluting all The Secretary of the State,
Coming to sacrifice themselves at any rate.

240

AN INDIAN DIARY [February 2

5 Where Iamb and Lion on this lovely tank
Safely drink their water on the only bank.

6 Reminding old-day justice how good thing
Of our H.H. Secretary, Emperor King. . . .

7 Where lovely lotus grows as pure as much
Standing in water but without its touch.

8 Reminding of the Piety, Purity Indian thing
Of our H.H. Secretary, Emperor King.

By JIWA RAM, B.A.,

Tehsildar Gird,

Dholpur Station

Dated the 2 nd February, 1918. (Camp Tal Tabli).

In the evening we saw the gold scabbarded sword
dresented by Akbar to Dholpur’s ancestors, and also the
diamond he presented; Dholpur’s new potato-like pearls; and
we had some music.

Dholpur told me at dinner that his family originally came
from Nepal ; occupied Gwalior for 1,300 years ; and was
finally driven out to their present territory, given to them by
the past India Company, with a promise of enlargement
that has never been fulfilled. Originally Sikh, they are
connected with the Patiala’s, and have recently become
Rajputs. Dholpur’s ancestors had in command of their
army a curious Italian family of Filoses, the last remnant of
which is the old man at Gwalior who built Gwalior’s palace.
Dholpur told me that his ancestor was warned that he ought
not to employ Italians, who would betray them. During
the first six months of the war between his ancestors and the
Scindia of the time no impression was made upon Dholpur’s

DHOLPUR

241

February 2]

forces, and then the Filoses were bought. The prophecy
came true, and they were vanquished. The population now
is only about 300,000 souls, but he knows everything about
them all, and when the land settlement was made he went
round every village with the settlement officer, and knows the
whole thing intimately. The State produces the most lovely
red-stone, and he has the contract for supplying all the stone
for New Delhi.

We went to bed at ten.

Sunday , February 3. We started at half-past seven by
train, and went to a place called Bari, and then had a motor
drive of six miles to a lovely old palace of Shah Jehan’s at
Teysildar, on the edge of a tank too lovely for words. After
breakfast we drove back towards the station and motored
along another road until we came to another enormous tank
made by bunding, and journeyed on it in motor launches for
six miles. It reminded me of nothing so much as a Northern
Scottish loch, with its blue water right to the edge of the
rocks, which are covered with short jungle that might for all
the world be birch scrub. There were a few duck, snake
birds, egrets, kingfishers, harriers, eagles, ospreys, and the
place swarms with fish-eating muggers, although we did not
see any. Then a short drive of four miles along a primitive
road to a tiger beat. Here was great excitement — three
tigers for certain in one beat 1 They would all come out
together ! Then news came that a fourth had been seen
that morning that might or might not be in the beat. More
excitement 1 We sat in a very comfortable brick tower on
the edge of a cliff, with the jungle before us and an open
space below in the jungle, so that it would have been nice
easy shooting. The “ kill ” was quite close to us, and the
vultures were all over the place. They had been sitting on
our tower, and were quarrelling over the kill. The beat was
a short one. One incident disturbed it, a large tame buffalo

242 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 3

crashing through the jungle. The beat came closer and
closer. No sign of tigers. So incredible was it that they
spent a full hour sending in dogs and throwing bombs into a
cave in the rocks, thinking that the tigers must be lurking
there, but it was all of no avail. The whole thing was a
great disappointment, and poor Dholpur was on the verge of
tears, and could not be got to smile all through lunch. After-
wards, when we assured him that Donoughmore would come
back again, and begged him to come with us to Kheri for our
holiday, he picked up.

In the afternoon Franey and Verney went off a mile and a
half to look for a bear. Three bears came out a quarter of a
mile away : no result. A panther was also seen in the beat.
We went to try a chance beat at a tiger which had been seen in
another nullah. It was an enormous nullah, nearly half a
mile wide where we were, and thickly jungled. The beat
saw the tiger ; we did not, and it all ended with nothing.

We went back in the evening, as it was getting dark, and
Donoughmore did a marvellous shot at a mugger, which, as
usual, got into the water. It was a most pleasant day, but
it was difficult to persuade our host how pleasant it was.
News came that my bear of yesterday had been found in a
cave ; so far, so good.

After dinner and a very friendly leave-taking we came back
to Delhi.

Monday , February 4. It is very cold. I found my notes
for the report returned.

The morning opened with alarms and excursions. I had
a letter from Curtis telling me that his agreement with me
in all my propositions was not so real as it sounded, and asking
if he could see me to talk about it. Then I had a visit from
Basu, who told me that Nair had given away our schemes
freely to the members of the Legislative Council. He was
gently chidden by Sastri, and said that they had a right to

February 4] DELHI VII 243

know it, and he was not going to keep it secret. Without a
moment’s hesitation I came to the conclusion that I must
not know this, so I told Basu to tell Nair not to play the fool,
and I decided that if I told Chelmsford anything about it Nair
would get into serious trouble, rightly, which would react
on our schemes, because Nair would then oppose them.
The exposition seems to have been on the whole successful.

At eleven o’clock we started with the Native States, and gave
them their chamber of princes, their advisory committee, and
agreed to redraft their paragraphs asking for a Commission
of Enquiry and a Hague Tribunal. I rather staggered them
by asking them what their allegations of broken treaties were
due to. They had all been to me with their stories of the
scandalous interference by Residents, and I wanted them to
make a clean breast of it. They tried to hedge, and said
they were afraid of the future, so I asked them very pointedly
whether they had anything to complain of in the past. Again
they tried to hedge. They said : “ Not since Lord Minto’s
time.” Again I asked them : Could I take it that all

grievances had been righted ? I told them that they were
our allies, of whom the King-Emperor was proud, and we
wanted them to be happy, and they they ought to state their
case. They said then that they would prepare lists of state-
ments and send them in later on.

We adjoined for lunch, which I had with Nair. He was
very friendly, but he complains of not beginning till .1922.
I assured him that I was going to take no fixed period ; they
would have to begin as soon after the Act was ready as was
possible. He then also said that he would never support the
scheme at all if I gave way on the right of the Governor to
restore the Budget figures on any other subjects but peace
and order. He would far rather take butter out of a dog’s
mouth than give way on this ; the Budget was everything ;
he would never accept a division of subjects without this. I
argued with him a lot, but he was stubborn. I do not think

244

AN INDIAN DIARY [February 4

he meant much. However, I wrote to Basu and Donough-
more to tackle him. He said he had heard that Vincent was
preparing a note, and that he hoped no members of the Council
would be asked to record any opinion at the present stage ;
that even though one accepted the conclusions, one would
have to take objection to some of the arguments put forward ;
that Sir Michael O’Dwyer’s memorandum had bitten into his
mind, and he would have to answer it some day. He told me
that we could never again rely upon Mohammedans, and that
therefore he would like three Indian members of the Viceroy’s
Council, one not a Hindu or Mohammedan — an Indian
Christian or Parsi ; otherwise, in a crisis you could not rely
on the Mohammedan, and the Hindu might side with him
for his support on other things. This was an interesting
argument from Nair. Nair also reiterated his desire that I
should not tackle lubricants, because he was afraid it would
arouse opposition so as to endanger reforms.

Back to the princes in the afternoon. We gave them direct
access to the Government of India, and I got from them an
admission that they would prefer the Resident abolished and
the Agent to the Governor-General kept, than the other way
round. We also agreed that they should have some system
of joint discussion on matters affecting both Native States
and British India in the reform scheme ; they were highly
delighted, and we adjourned at four.

The, Jam Saheb came to tea with me — very nice, very
pleasant.

After he had left I did a little writing, and then the Viceroy
came to see me, and we talked till nearly dinner time.

Tuesday , February 5. In the afternoon we finished the
Chief’s conference with votes of thanks, and they all went
away.

Then I had to see the youngest son of the Begum, whom she
has made her Chief Secretary at the age of 23 — a very nice

DELHI VII

245

February 5]

little fellow who has been instrumental in writing the articles
in the Pioneer which come from Bhopal on the Indian States.
I think I have referred to them before as being excellent
articles. He was educated at the Mayo College at Ajmer,
and seems to be getting into the saddle well.

In the evening I discussed with the Viceroy my notes.
Curtis’s objections to dealing with anything more than the
mere reform schemes, I am afraid, will defeat every effort I
have tried to make to get trial by jury, judicial and executive,
etc., solved. Well, I cannot help it ; I must give it up for
the present ; the reform schemes are the most important.

In the evening I dined with Sir George Barnes — quite a
pleasant little party. After dinner I had some talk with Lady
Grant : she is one of the few well-dressed women here.

Wednesday , February 6. This morning I am momentarily
expecting Alwar to breakfast.

I forget whether I have recorded a story which shows, if
true, that the Indian coolie is not such a fool politically as
people say he is, but I doubt whether it is true. It came to
me again yesterday. Two men who were discussing how
much a coolie knew, asked a coolie if he knew who and what
the Secretary of State was, and he replied : “ Yes. The
Secretariat Saheb is he who tells the King-Emperor to sack
the Lord Saheb.”

Alwar came to breakfast, and we had an entrancing one and
a quarter hours. I am afraid I burden these pages with
tributes to this man’s intelligence. The burden of his song
was this — that our position vis-a-vis the Native States was
unintelligible. He only wanted to know ; he was a searcher
and an enquirer after truth ; and he was quite willing to
accept anything which he was convinced was true, but that,
unfortunately, when he proceeded to argue on these matters
he was called treacherous and traitorous. He is the only
Chief who has taken the trouble to read the treaties — Aitchi-

246 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 6

son’s collection. As he explained to me pathetically, the
Viceroy has not read them. There are only 15 volumes ;
it would only take a month !

I came home to a late and hurried lunch to find Curtis.
He began a dismal complaint. He appears to have been
thoroughly frightened by something or other, and begs me
to drop most of my proposals. At this eleventh hour he
beseeches me : “ We are standing on the edge of the most
frightful calamity.” Have you ever been talked to in this
strain by the Round Table ? I like Curtis very much ; I
thought he was so closely in accord with me, and I am deeply
disappointed at this new turn of affairs. He appears to have
had a letter from Chirol expressing alarm. He appears to
be afraid that Curzon and Milner will say to Lloyd George :
“ We cannot support this.” He is afraid I shall be driven
to resignation, in which case he says there is nothing but
martial law possible in India ; that there must be no delay in
completing my proposals ; that the larger they are the less
chance there is of getting them through, therefore they must
be small. Indian public opinion does not matter ; those
whom I think will support me are going to turn and rend me ;
no scheme has a chance, and so on.

I went back to the Council in a fit of deep depression, and
listened to the debate on re-arrangement of provincial
boundaries. Sarma read his long speech as badly as possible.
He w*as followed by Hamilton Grant. Fagan of the Punjab
strung together a series of proverbs and made a curiously
poor contribution — “ more haste less speed,” “ the higher
the fewer,” and so forth ; Bannerjea again imploring, with all
the thunder of the platform, Sarma not to complicate the issue
by bringing in this resolution. There was a good speech
from Kincade of the Bombay Government, saying that
Sarma’s and Shaft’s reasons for attaching Sind to the Punjab
were for much the same reasons as the Germans wanted to
attach Holland. I think the really good speech of the day

February 6] DELHI VII 247

was from Sastri — well delivered, well phrased, and very
impressive, urging the rejection of the motion. It had no
supporters ; it was rather unfairly treated, and was finally
negatived without a division.

I came back and had a little interview with Jaipur, who came
to take his leave ; the Maharao of Cutch, who talked to me
about the interminable and difficult dispute between Cutch
and Morvi, which does not seem to me to have been well
handled ; the Diwan of Jhind, who came to complain that
everything that the princes asked for ought to be resisted,
but that His Highness of Jhind was neutral.

Then I went to see Curtis, to whom I had given to read my
notes for my report — more gloomy than ever, more certain
of disaster than ever. It is the most depressing circumstance,
which has nearly driven me to the verge of suicide, because
up till to-day Curtis has seemed to be a supporter of everything
we proposed.

A pleasant little dinner in my tent — Donoughmore,
Halliday, and Parsons, with a bottle of wine that we had been
dying for for a long time. Then a big party at Government
House, with 23 investitures of various Orders. Basu celebrated
the occasion by telling me that Nair had said he would never
accept anything proposed at present for the restoration of
Budget items ; he could not have the words “ Interests of
good Government or interests of the Government.” Vincent
tells me he wants to get back into the Government of India
in order to express his opinion against our proposals. Really
it is black Wednesday, if ever there was one.

Thursday , February 7. So I write this morning, probably
not being able to add anything more before I leave to-night
for my holiday. This is practically the end. Our proposals
in principle are complete. We are engaged on the writing
of the report, which will be complete by the end of this month.
But I leave, as I say, in the depths of gloom — no chance of

248 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 7

public acceptance ; no possibility of getting any trimmings
which the Government of India are shying at ; Curtis, Nair,
and Vincent, all hostile — Curtis with his power of working
Milner and Curzon. Well, things may look brighter, but
I must say that they have never looked worse. I have come
to an agreement with the Government of India which nobody
accepts, and that is what I have always feared might be the
outcome. You see, there has been nobody who has con-
structed ; they have only acquiesced ; and where I fear that
my own proposals may have been spoiled is in my desperate
endeavour to find compromises at every stage.

I end up with a story which is new to me, told to me last
night by Donoughmore, who says he had it from Major
Alexander, as an illustration of the red tape of the Indian
Army. A baby was born in the married quarters, and after
it was born an indent was made for rations for it. The Babu
in charge of the accounts queried this item, and asked what
time the child was born. When he got the answer : “ Two
o’clock in the afternoon,” he made the comment : “ Rations
disallowed ; see section blank of the Army Regulations.”
When the Army Regulations were turned up the section was
found to run something as follows : “ Troops disembarking
after mid-day will receive their rations on board ship.”

I started work with the grim determination that I must
go through with this thing, and that, after all, most of the
fears that people were expressing were the fears of frightened
men. Nobody could have gone to the debate at the Legisla-
tive Council yesterday without realising what a farce it all
was — that these 27 creatures should claim to be a representa-
tive institution.

It is absolutely essential to put things on a better
basis, and I think that the emendations of our schemes
which Meyer, Lowndes, Basu, and Duke have arrived at,
under which, in a House of 67 elected members and 33
nominated, unless there is a two-thirds majority the Govern-

DELHI VII

February 7]

249

merit have the right to take the Bill to the Upper House, will
prove effective.

Basu and Vincent came to tell me about their Indianisation
scheme, which works up to 50 per cent, in the I.C.S. in 25
years. Basu, Vincent tells me, expressed his approval of
his conclusions, if not of his arguments. Vincent approves
of the idea of nominating 50 Indians this year, but the diffi-
culty is that speeches were made by Chamberlain that the
Emergency Bill passed for the War would not be used for
Indianisation. Vincent is of opinion that if you do not go
back on the vacancies, (in), which exist at present, but
nominate Indians for the new ones, largely on the ground
of the new policy of the Government and on the fact that the
War is lasting so long and there are no Europeans available,
it could be done. I must consult Chamberlain about this.
Basu left me, and I begged him, when his Committee met in
the afternoon to try and get over the difficulty. I said :
“ I do not want dissenting minutes in the Viceroy’s Council.”
I said this passionately, because Vincent was there, who I
knew was contemplating one. Vincent immediately said
that he hoped nobody would write a dissenting minute,
because if one was written several would be written.

Then Basu left, and Vincent and I had a heart to heart
talk. He is a strange creature. I told him that I wanted to
pose as a man who said to the I.C.S. : “ My friends, times
are changing, and you are in for a bad time. You haye got
to put up with it. I will do everything to help you, and you
will have my support all the way through in the functions
that still remain to you.” Instead of that, I found that they
felt that in assenting to the constitution policy, by discussions
about Judicial and Executive, and so forth, the ground was
crumbling under their feet. Vincent said this was true.
I then said : “ Well, I will drop all talk of lubricants ; I
will defend the indefensible by seeing that the Civil Service
are left with certain functions to perform. It regarded

2$o AN INDIAN DIARY [ February 7

these things as essential. When the time came to relieve
them of this responsibility, it would be the time to criticise
the armoury. Now they must have whatever they wanted/’
To my astonishment, the old man said at once : “ No, say in
Parliament that these things did require examination and that
you would see that the Government of India examined them.”
Imagine the horror with which the Viceroy would regard
such an announcement. It is the very thing I thought
Vincent wanted to avoid, although, of course, very, very
difficult to defend. Then Vincent began a prayer for an
Act this year. I told him that I was convinced it would be a
good thing to get an Act as soon as possible, and that I
would tell the Cabinet that, although what we were sent out
to do was to discuss a policy to put into force at the end of
the War. I said to him that a statute this year was impossible.
He replied : “ A statute is no good unless it is this year,”
that he feared something akin to martial law if there is any
delay.

When he left me I went to talk to Duke. To my horror,
I found him infected with the Curtis bacillus and inclined
to go back on everything. So far as I could I kept my temper.
I was interrupted by a visit from Tony Grant, just back from
Mesopotamia. He tells me that Cox has come round to
the belief that the Arabs would welcome Indian colonisation,
that the potentialities by irrigation of Mesopotamia are
enormous, and that even with what they are doing by flood
irrigation the wheat area this year will be four times what
it was last, and will probably support all the troops there.
He says it is marvellous what we have done. Of course,
irrigation will destroy the waterway for anything but native
craft, but the railways will form our communications.

Then I wrote my mail letters, which I am afraid were
rather gloomy ; went to lunch, and after lunch had a talk
with Basu. Basu had had a talk with Curtis. He says that
Curtis’s desire to be in a hurry is based on an apprehension

DELHI VII

251

February 7]

that unless the statute comes forward at once there will be
agitation. It is quite certain that it is not so ; people are
not so much in a hurry as all that. I put one or two of
Curtis’s suggestions to him, and he scouted them. I am
perfectly convinced that if I water down my proposals there
will be no sort of acceptance for any of them, and a politician
who does not think of his public is a fool.

Then I had a three hours’ session with the Viceroy, and we
went through all my notes, Duke being there, and we approved
them generally. I was a little horrified to find that the
Viceroy had been re-writing the one which embodies the
scheme itself, and I do not think improving it. He seemed to
think that he was not re-writing it, but that it was a note of
his own. So long as we keep to the fixed point in our scheme,
responsibility in the Provinces, through dyarchy to responsi-
bility, we shall be all right.

After that I saw Donoughmore, and learned that his
Committee had finished its work, keeping for Budget
restoration purposes peace, tranquillity, and interests of the
Province or any part thereof, provided that if they do not
approve the Legislative Council may appeal to the Govern-
ment, and the Government can register a protest which is to
be laid on the table of the House of Commons. I do not
know whether Nair will take this.

Dinner in the A.D.C.’s room, and a start at nine ; a
comfortable railway journey to Bareilly, which we reached at
quarter-past two ; then a rush across the platform in undress,
and on to the Rohilkhand-Kumosan narrow gauge railway,
where we turned into bed after a hot cup of tea. Bitterly
cold.

[ February 8

IX

KHERI

Friday , February 8. We reached Palia Kalan at half-past
seven this morning, and found Clutterbuck, my dear old
friend Bambahadur, and the Deputy Commissioner for the
district, Campbell, waiting for us on the platform. We
motored four miles to our camp. This is situated on a flat
plain on the edge of the jungle, in a mango grove ; very
comfortable tents, in two rows, with a dining tent in the
centre. Bambahadur has a camp of his own about a quarter
of a mile off. There is a telegraph office and a post office,
so that we are in close communication with home. When I
was in camp here five years ago we shifted camp every day.
Now, during the last three weeks roads have been driven
through the jungle which just take motor cars. Of course
they will all be washed away in the rains ; and these, with our
52 elephants, enable us to see and do everything we want. I
was astonished to find that permission to put up a mango
grove was given to ryots, and that there was no land revenue
on the grove ; they live on the fruit, and the timber reverts
to the Zemindar as soon as it ceases to be fruit bearing.

Her$ is a time, a glorious time, for clear thinking, and the
whole day I have been thinking hard. Two new parts of
the report have come to me. What could be better for
thought ? During the early morning in bed I can read all
the papers I have brought with me ; during the long solitary
rides, ambling along on an elephant, undisturbed by anything,
I can turn over all the incidents of the last two months, and
when I leave here my mind will be made up.

After breakfast I had a rare treat and a sight I shall never
forget* One of the party here is a man called Jack Hearsey,

252

KHERI

February 8]

*53

who owns the land round about outside the State forests.
He is a Eurasian, the fourth generation from General Hearsey,
of Mutiny fame, who settled in this country and married an
Indian woman. He is a very nice fellow, I think — very
knowledgeable on natural history and the country generally.
His great interest in life is hawking, and I went with him to
his camp, where I saw three peregrins, a saker, a lagger,
which is the resident falcon of the plains, a red-headed merlin ;
and, although this is not part of the hawking outfit, a young
sarus crane, two and a half months old, which he has brought
up from a fledgling, and is very tame. The birds that they
hawk are mainly blue jays, black ibises, grey herons, pond
egrets. What struck me as very extraordinary is that the
red-headed merlin, which is very little bigger than our merlin,
will hawk the pond egret. He has got one fine old hen
peregrin, which he told me killed nearly a thousand birds
last year. After we had looked at them for some time three
black ibises were reported in a field of young wheat close by,
and we went for a demonstration. A boy put the ibises up ;
the hood was removed from the hawk, and away he dashed for
them. Up into the air went the ibises ; round in great
circles went the hawk to get above them. They did not move
more than 200 yards away from us, but it was all up in the
air. When he had finally got over, there came the downward
swoop and the crash of the ibis to the ground with the hawk
on top. When they landed in some long grass the ibis got
away, but the hawk dashed after him and got him down
again about 1 50 yards away from where he originally fell, and
killed him. It was a glorious sight.

We had heard news at breakfast of a tiger kill of a most
confiding kind, right on the edge of the jungle in a little
outlying thicket. We beat for it ; the excitement was very
great, for all round were the pug-marks of tigers, at least two,
and probably two cubs. But, unfortunately, the tiger had
apparently killed and had then gone to join his tigress in the

254 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 8

main jungle, which is too big to beat, so that the result was
another blank. However, we found a bear in the beat,
which Duke afterwards wounded — or so it is alleged — and
Clutterbuck killed, a fine female bear, 6 ft. 7 in. long.

Then lunch, and a slow mouch home, when general shooting
was supposed to be the order, but there was nothing to shoot.
I saw some floricans, which got up very wild, partridges,
snipe, and a lot of duck, and a peacock or two, but there was
no chance of any shots. We had a drive for swamp deer, and
three fine stags came out, but they were too far off, and the
afternoon was a blank. But there were three hours of riding,
during which I left my guns and went through everything.
I came home in the evening, and have been dictating ever
since, and I am going to bed tired out. I am purposely not
putting down my two new paragraphs to-night, because I
want to think to-morrow about them a little bit further, but
they are roughly these :

1. We must include in our report, to ease the situation,
a statement that although in ten years the statutory commission
is to go to responsible government unless good cause is shown,
this does not mean that we anticipate that all Provinces, or
many Provinces, or any Provinces, will be ready for complete
responsible government.

2. The second idea is to get a simple statute and a statutory
commission immediately to work out details. These things
I shall put down to-morrow afternoon.

Sunday, February 10. Sunday was a glorious day.
Donoughmore and Franey had letters to write, as the mail
was going out to England. We all went out, therefore,
without them, over Hearsey’s ground, along the banks of the
River Sarda, Donoughmore and Franey going out after lunch
to sit for a tiger over two kills. We rode out through the
jungle, and saw several blue bull, with which we did not
interfere ; but going along the stream to where the howdah

February io] KHERI 255

elephants were waiting for us, we saw a glorious sight — about
70 stags in the burnt grass. When we reached the howdahs
the Maharaja of Dholpur went off alone with Hearsey, to
stalk the stags, and shot the best of them, which turned out,
on measurement, to be 34 ins. We went along in line, gons
dashing before us, till we reached a point where the place was
alive with deer, who galloped across the front, and took to the
water. It was a beautiful sight. I selected two stags that I
thought to be good, and killed them — 3 if- ins. and 30 ins.
Halliday got one, and so did Parsons, but they were poor ones.

Then a late lunch, and very little after it, save that we saw
some more stags, and I and the Maharaja went after them.
I did not want to shoot any more ; the Maharaja killed one
with an extraordinarily good shot. I then missed a still
better one, and he got it ; and we came home in the dark.
Donoughmore and Franey saw nothing.

Monday , February 11. I remained all the morning talking
to Duke. In the afternoon we went out to join the party.
Donoughmore had had a wonderful morning and had killed
two jackals, a blue bull and a pig. Clutter had also got a
pig, and they had put up a leopard which had sprung on to
an elephant and got through the line, when it was wounded,
it was said, by Clutter, and also shot at with shot by
Taracharan. 1 We saw nothing when we joined them except
a family of otters and a large number of hog deer. Donpugh-
more got one, and Parsons got another. I chased the otters,
and must have gone within five yards of where the leopard
was sitting. Taracharan shot it afterwards and killed it —
a small male, 6 ft. 7^ in. long. A very pleasant afternoon out.

Tuesday , February 12. Before we started, rather late, in
order to let the howdahs get off, we had a wonderful exhibition
of hawking. The peregrin killed another ibis which gave
him a longer flight, although not so high vertically ; and the

1 A.D.C. to the Maharaja*

2 $6 AN INDIAN DIARY [ February 12

red-headed merlin killed a pond egret. It did not get above
it and swoop for it, but chased it in among the trees, and
eventually killed it within a yard of the block on which it lives.

We went to a place called Gohola, belonging to Hearsey,
an enormous tract of 6,000 acres of grass on the edge of the
forest, full of stags. Sir William Duke killed a stag which
was 38 ins. long in horn and very massive, but with very few
points. It is the biggest that has been seen here for a long
time, but I did not envy the head, as it had very few points.
I came to lunch thoroughly miserable. I had had the best
of the shooting ; had had three shots at one quite good stag
and two shots at another, galloping, and had missed them
both. Shooting from an elephant which may move is extra-
ordinarily difficult, particularly with strange rifles, but this
incompetence distressed me. The place is so lovely ; the
opportunities for thought on the elephant are so marvellous ;
the glory of seeing the beasts move makes me quite happy
even if I do not get a shot all day. But what does annoy me
is when I prove myself to be bad at the job. Just before
lunch I had a shot at a third one, missed it with both barrels,
and it was killed by Parsons — a very nice stag, 32 ins. I am
glad he is doing so well. The only thing that worries me
is that so many of my friends are new to the job, and although,
therefore, they have been very steady, I cannot reconcile it
to my conscience that Clutterbuck has told them so little
about it. Poor Franey is alone on the howdah, and is never
told what to shoot at and what not to shoot at. Elephants
are all over the place, and are very difficult to see in the long
grass. It is not merely that one ought not to shoot at an
elephant, but water and clay ricochet tremendously, and one
ought therefore never to shoot in the direction of an elephant
unless the beast is straight down at one’s feet, like in a leopard
ring. But, as I have said, these are only the anxieties of
the nervous, for there have been no contretemps or anything
approaching to a contretemps . Sir William Duke’s rifle

KHERI

February 12]

257

sometimes sweeps the howdahs, but we all hope that it is at
safety. Halliday shot a very nice hog deer with horns
15 ins. long. Lunch was late, because a leopard had been
seen by Franey, but unfortunately it was not rounded up. It
was a good one, and it says much for Franey ’s alertness that
he was the only one who saw it. Pug-marks were discovered
showing the direction in which he had gone.

We lunched on the edge of the Government forests. It
was hot and glorious, the range of the Nepal Hills showing
clearly. The huge fir trees, the yellow grass, the smell of
wild thyme, the song of the oriole — all were quite lovely.

After lunch, Donoughmore, Taracharan and I rode forward
whilst the line beat through some hugh grass in which the
elephants were completely enveloped, and which is a sanctuary
for the biggest gons in the place. The water was deep, and
they could see nothing but a herd of rushing stags all round
them. As we rode to our places we had to cross an open
space in the swamp, and at the crossing, which was deep
enough to come up to the elephant’s pads, we saw two small
crocodiles lying on the bank opposite. I was ahead, but
decided not to shoot, because the chances of their getting
into the water are so great, and we might disturb the gon.
Cormorants and snake birds were darting all over the place.
There was a female peregrin and several Montagu’s harriers.
Gons were calling in the thicket. We got half-way across the
water when I saw beyond, and higher up the bank th^n the
other, two crocodiles, the biggest crocodile I have ever seen,
facing us. I determined to risk everything to get it, and
drawing a careful bead, I fired and hit him in exactly the right
place. Like an idiot, I took my small rifle. The crocodile
slipped into the river, and we saw him churning up the mud.
I think he will be recovered. Then to our places, disturbing
as we went scores of purple gallinuls, that flew about like great
coots, shining blue in the sun. We were facing an open
piece of water, and nothing could have been more beautiful

258 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 12

than to see the gons, hinds and small stags swimming across
to the other side. Taracharan killed three duck, which were
swarming, mainly mallard, and some white-eyed pochards.
A good stag came out, and I fired at it, missing it completely
with all my armoury, and Taracharan the same. Donough-
more then had five shots at it, and killed it. Another stag
came out, which I killed, and that was all. Then just before
the line joined us Parsons finished off a wounded stag. This
turned out, to my great joy, to be one of those that I thought
I had missed before lunch. There was no mistaking its
horns, and when the skin was examined a bullet was found in
it corresponding to the bore of my rifle. It was a bungled
shot, but not a complete miss. Watchers up trees had seen
the stags that I had fired at going in this direction, so I think
I can claim it without any doubt. My two stags were very
good ones, 34^ ins. and 35 ins., beautiful heads. We all
went back through the long grass in the swamp. It was
getting very dark, but just as we were going out a large
number of excellent stags which had never left the grass at
all, despite the closely beating line of elephants, broke away
across the burnt stuff. Donoughmore fired, and so did
Taracharan, without result. Clutterbuck went along to
head them off, and intercepted a stag moving very slowly
in the dark at 250 yards. He fired at it and got it. We
were not after stags at all, and it was curious that in that light
we succeeded in bagging by these means the best stag ever
got in this district, 37^ ins. long, with no less than 21 points.
We came home, therefore, with seven stags and a para, all
very tired ; but it has been a most wonderful day for its sheer
beauty and enjoyment, added to which I had been thinking
hard on the elephant, and I think at last I have got a scheme
which gets over all our difficulties for the transitional period.

Wednesday , February 13. Duke is going off to-day, and
so is Dholpur, who has really been a most delightful person

February 13] KHERI 259

in camp — a thorough sportsman and extraordinarily amiable.
He is thoroughly happy, and, I think, has enjoyed himself,
and he has got three of these very rare stags, all of them fine
heads. We are all so happy, and we have been fed awfully
well by Clutterbuck, who, in addition, is continually receiving
presents of highly tasty curries from Bambahadur and from
Kukra, the jolly little Mohammedan who does not speak a
word of English, but who spends his whole time praying.
He carried with him a prayer carpet, which he stretches out
on the ground, and prays morning, noon and night.

This morning I have spent in working, discussing my scheme
and elaborating it, and I am now prepared to put it in writing.

In the afternoon, the Maharaja of Dholpur and Duke
having left, Franey remained in camp working, and Donough-
more and I went off for a shoot, while Parsons and Halliday
went off to sit for tigers. Our shoot did not yield much. We
started a leopard and two cubs in the long grass and tried to
surround them. It was beautifully conceived, but, as usual
in this shooting, in the case of Bambahadur nobody was told
what they were to do, and they got away. The total bag
for the day was a nilghai to me ; a fairly poor gon, 30 ins.,
with broken horns, to Donoughmore, and I finished off a
wounded para, a male, that I found, which had dropped its
horns. We also got a few partridges.

Thursday , February 14. We had a very pleasant day on
Thursday. The morning was spent chasing a leopard, which
was eventually bagged by Campbell, after Donoughmore,
Parsons, and I had all missed it. It took the whole morning
to get ; the consequence was that we were rather late in
starting off in the afternoon. However, we shot several
peacocks and partridges ; I got a nilghai ; Donoughmore got
another small gon and a hyena, and Franey got a smallish
sambur : a pleasant, miscellaneous day. Marris arrived in
the afternoon. He brought a message from the Viceroy

260 AN INDIAN DIARY [i February 14

that the Viceroy hoped that the report would be ready as a
finished document before I left, and that he hoped we would
work this week-end. I think this is pretty cool, considering
that not one single suggestion has come from him, or even
a criticism ; in fact, I am getting so terribly worried by the
fact that I have not only got to propound my own schemes
because nobody else does, but criticise them myself because
nobody else does. Chelmsford, during the whole of this
week, has done nothing that I can discover.

Marris also brought with him the report of the Meyer,
Duke, Lowndes, Basu committee on the Government of
India ; and of the Lowndes, Donoughmore, Hill, Basu
Committee on A and B finance. This adds to the horror of
my position, because neither report seems to me to be accept-
able. The Meyer one contains a perfectly idiotic Electoral
College, some of the members of which are to be nominated,
and others people who have lost their seats for the local
Legislative Councils. The other committee recommends an
appeal to the Government of India on almost every sort of
conceivable subject, particularly on A and B finance, so that
if the local government wanted four new inspecting engineers,
the Legislative Council might appeal to the Government of
India against it. That is quite impossible. Marris says the
report cannot be ready by the time I want to go home.

Friday , February 1 5. The two days have now dawned when
we are to see miracles on Bambahadur’s own shoot at Darkiwa
and Hathibojh. We left at nine o’clock, the elephants
having gone on overnight. The whole of the first day was
taken up, on the borders of Nepal, separated from it only by
a river, by a drive for a tiger which had killed ever since
January 1 in a small jungle consisting of trees and enormously
long grass, sometimes as much as 30 ft. high. The tiger
was to be driven to Donoughmore and Halliday. They
discovered it early in the first beat and lost it by turning the

KHERI

261

February 15]

whole beat round and trying to drive it to me. It made me
perfectly furious, as, of course, I could not see it in the long
grass, nor did it come anywhere near me. Then they finished
the beat out in the original direction, and brought out to
Donoughmore a small tiger cub about four feet long. It
was furiously fired at in a circle of elephants, to the risk of
everybody’s life, and finally dispatched. Lunch ; and then
more chasing the tiger, but we never got it, although we saw
two, if not three, more cubs. We ought never to have driven
for a tiger which had cubs, and it says badly for the shikari
that he never twigged this. The line was wonderful ; the
elephants marvellously disciplined; but Bambahadur’s idea
of ringing tigers round with elephants so that nobody can
shoot, so that every second must lead to the jumping of the
tiger on to one of the elephants, so that the elephants are in
a perpetual state of nervous fear because they think their
riders are in fear because of the slowness with which we
approach — all this is wrong. If he had tried to drive the
tiger straight and quickly out to six stops, Clutterbuck thinks
we could have got it in half an hour. So that the first wonder-
ful day ended in nothing but a tiger cub !

Saturday , February 16. We spent Saturday in driving to
the home of all the gons at Miria Tal. Once again the whole
banderbasi was wrong. Two stops were sent forward, and
did not know where they were to go to ; they began tc 1 move
and crashed about the water in the middle of the drive. The
line could have shot several gons, but were told they must
not shoot, and we who were the stops got the gons crashing
past us in hundreds — just forests of horns. It was a mar-
vellous sight. Dillipat kept on urging me to shoot, and
finally I shot three, but selection was quite impossible.
Donoughmore shot three, too, but again selection was im-
possible. Galloping stags in a crowd cannot be measured,
and therefore our average in this home of the gons, where

262 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 1 6

big ones abound, is lower than anywhere else. My best
was 33^ ins., and the smallest I dare not mention. Clutter-
buck got one in the line, which he killed for his mahouts to
eat ; Franey got one in the line, which we picked up on the
way back after lunch ; and at the last moment Halliday got
one just as we were getting off the elephants. We also
got two or three partridges. We saw a wonderful sight of
stags, but the thing as a shoot was a failure.

We got home early, and I found waiting for me a letter
from Curtis. This extraordinary man, who is much to be
dreaded because of his influence with Geoffrey Robinson of
the Times , Phillip Kerr, Chirol, etc., seems now to have been
persuaded by somebody or other into a state of blue funk.
I carried him with me in all my proposals at the earlier stage
of these proceedings, but now he is not only criticising my
schemes, but actually going back on suggestions of which he
himself was the father, and I am afraid, cost what it may, I
must break off relations. His suggestions are impossible.
They amount to this, that we should leave absolutely every-
thing that we are asked to decide this winter to a series of
committees, doing nothing now but jerry-building the
existing Councils. If he thinks that by this means you can
get a manageable India, I am quite certain he is wrong.

Sunday , February 17. In the morning we went to examine
the hfeads. Although the biggest was my head of 33^ ins.,
that head is one I am glad to have got, for it has a very
wide spread of 38^ ins., and is very handsome. The
other two heads of mine turned out to be 33 ins. and 29 ins.
Donoughmore’s were 30 ins., 24 ins., and 30 ins., I think.

We were then promised a partridge fight, but one partridge
was so aggressive, so truculent in his challenge, that none of
the other birds would stand up to him, and it had to be
abandoned.

We then went off for our last shoot to Tirhia Tal, along

[To face page 262

Typical swamp-deer country

KHERI

February 17]

263

the banks of the Sohali, and glorious fun it was. Parsons and
Franey both killed gons, and Franey killed a sambur. The
other big game consisted of three pigs, of which I killed one,
Donoughmore one, and Clutterbuck one ; but we had a very
jolly day with the birds, and killed several partridges and
innumerable peacocks. I had great fun with my elephant,
trying to persuade it to pick up a dead peacock. I managed
to explain to the mahout what I wanted the elephant to do,
and he succeeded in getting him to retrieve one, but when we
tried again the peacock was not quite dead, and the most
awful battle ensued, the elephant doing its best to kill it by
kneeling on it. This was very disconcerting to the person
in the howdah, and the peacock suffered a general collapse.
The elephant did not pick it up.

We came home solemnly in the evening, and said good-bye
to our many very dear friends, and left for Delhi, where we
arrived on Monday morning.

[February 18

X

DELHI VIII— BHARATPUR II— DELHI IX

Monday , February 1 8. Chelmsford asks me to postpone my
departure for another month. I really find myself despairing
of this man. Here he is faced with the greatest issue of his
life — if only it were not merely India, about which nobody
knows, I would say the greatest issue of anybody’s life. He
has had ten days away from me ; I have sent him new sugges-
tion after new suggestion, and I find that the ten days has
produced no corresponding thought of any kind whatever
from him : he has done nothing, except sit and wait to be
fed, and then even does not criticise. Well, it cannot be
helped ; I have got to go on alone. It is appalling to have
to create one’s own schemes, and, not only that, but to create
one’s criticisms of one’s own schemes. However, the rest
of my party seem to me to like the new scheme very much
which I described in my letter to Chelmsford, and after a
morning’s talk I decided to stick to the boat of March 1 9 and
to refuse to wait any longer. I have abandoned my projected
trip to Kathiawar. This was to celebrate the conclusion of
the whole matter. It is now quite clear that I shall not
conclutie by March 1, and so I have wired to chuck it : very,
very disappointed.

Tuesday , February 19. We are to meet this morning to
discuss the Government of India proposals.

We had a hectic morning on the Government of India
proposals, but it ended fairly well. After much worrying
about it, we all agreed to accept the suggestion of a Privy
Council, with a Council of State as a committee of it. After
a long wrangle, it was suggested that the numbers should

264

DELHI VIII

February 19]

265

consist of 22 nominated by the Governor-General, of whom
not more than 18 should be officials, and 14 nominated by
the Governments of the Provinces on the recommendation
of the Legislative Councils, these latter to be over 35 years of
age, to have sat for two sessions in the Legislative Council
of the local government or of the Government of India, or
to have held some public office. We also decided that we
would not ask or accept the provision in the committee’s
recommendation that if the Government were defeated by a
three-fifth majority in the Lower House they could not take
the Bill to the Upper House. The cardinal principles of
our reform in the Government of India are that the will of
the Government shall, if it chooses, prevail, and that it would
be ridiculous to put into the statute a provision which enacted
the possibility that the Government of India would be mad
enough to fly in the faces of all the elected members of the
new Legislative Council.

Basu was very eloquent, very fiery. He made speeches
about Mrs. Besant and the partition of Bengal, which all,
as I told him, indicated that the Government ought not to
fly in the faces of such a majority, but did not indicate that
it was a good thing to put in the Bill. After a time he
accepted.

As regards election to the Lower House, we were unable
to come to any agreement, and it was finally decided that the
method of election, franchises and constituencies fur this
purpose should also be left to the committee which we are
going to set up.

Chelmsford came to see me in the morning, and told me
that he had found Meston in a very cheerful mood, and that
Meston had liked and approved our new plan.

Meston came to see me at lunch ; said that he was in a
state of complete bewilderment ; that he had not understood
anything that Chelmsford had said to him last evening ; that
he had worried over it all night ; and he now came to me and

266

AN INDIAN DIARY [ February 19

begged me to elucidate matters. I described the new schemes.
He said he now completely understood them, but he had not
before, and he was quite sure that Chelmsford did not ; that
he would not commit himself, but he thought they were
attractive in their simplicity. He was a little afraid of the
Government of India proposals, but I was able to explain to
him why I thought they were absolutely necessary. He then
gave me a peroration of admiration ; an expression of his
determination to do everything he could for us in England in
the propaganda line, and we left, he in the best of spirits.

At three o’clock there came the holy man, Curtis. He said
that Chelmsford had explained the whole scheme to him ;
that he was infinitely happier ; that he was quite satisfied,
and was going back in a much better mood. Knowing
that Meston had told me, I repeated the scheme. He had not
understood it, but did not dissent from it, except that what he
says I call two halves of the same Government he calls two
Governments. I said I did not care a damn what he called
it, but that he was wrong. We parted friends ; he thought
that the report was going to be a success.

In the evening old man Basu came to see me, and I tried
to soothe him after the morning’s heated argument. He
was very pleasant, thought that everything was going very
well, but he had to make a fight, and so forth.

Then I went up to see Chelmsford ; discussed the events
of the* day with him ; asked him what he was doing about
the propaganda department and Gourlay, and he told me that
he was discussing it with Du Boulay.

I then went to dinner with Maffey, and found, to my
astonishment, that Gourlay was coming here on Wednesday,
a fact that Chelmsford, for some reason or other, seems to
have suppressed. That ended a very pleasant day of strenu-
ous work, but a satisfactory day.

W ednesday , February 20. When I arose on Wednesday

DELHI VIII

February 20]

2 67

morning I felt quite certain that, as usual in India, a good day
is followed by a black day. Marris came to see me in the
morning, and suggested an emendation of the new plan by
which there should be no B Ministers until the B Ministers
were responsible to the Legislative Assembly, but that there
should simply be two, and two members of the Executive
Council. I object to this. In the first place it does not
show the line upon which we are going so clearly. In the
second place it makes it necessary that the Indian members
of the Executive Council should be responsible for A and B
subjects ; and, in the third place, it makes it necessary that
when they become responsible and leave the Executive
Council, the Indians chosen for A subjects must, like the
other Indians, be chosen from the Legislative Council. This
means, therefore, that you are beginning responsibility for
A subjects then. I do not like it. We had a long discussion
about it, also about the necessity of his getting on with the
report, which he promised to do.

Then Duke came in, who liked Marris’s variant ; and
also sprang a mine of his own: — that he must have room for
sub-provincial councils.

Then I wrote some letters and went to see old Basu. I
discovered him in a great state of mind, because the dinner
which the Legislative Council is to give me to-morrow night
was to have taken place at Metcalf House, where they are put
up ; but they wanted to give me a good dinner, and, knowing
their caterer was inadequate, they engaged Peliti’s. Then the
Government of India came down and said that they could
not have the dinner there at all, because the caterer had a
contract to supply everything in Metcalf House. This is
ludicrous, because the dinner was not to be in the house at
all but in a shamiana outside. The Legislative Council
then thought of abandoning the dinner, but Basu soothed
them down, and they are giving it in the same shamiana that
we dined in the other night at Nair’s house — a shamiana

268

AN INDIAN DIARY [February 20

which, I believe, belongs to the Raja of Mahmadabad. We
discussed the two new points. Basu said that he did not
like Marris’s — although it was nearer the Congress and
Moslem League scheme — as much as mine ; and he did not
like Duke’s proposal, because it might leave it open to a new
partition of Bengal, or what would be regarded as such ;
but still he was unperturbed and quite happy about the
situation.

Then Montagu of Beaulieu came to lunch with me. He
talked about the archaic methods of doing everything in
this country and insisted upon its great potential development.
He tells me that he is going to join the Board of Boulton’s
and the Alliance Bank of Simla after the War. He wants
ropeways everywhere, particularly up to the hill stations,
and development of India’s enormous water power. He
speaks with enthusiasm of the Commander-in-Chief, who he
says is very unhappy about Robertson’s resignation. He has
brought out with him Major Alan Burgoyne, of the House
of Commons. He came to see me after lunch, because I
thought it was better to get all the House of Commons support
that I can. “ Well,” he began, “ how do you like this sleepy
old country ? ” This was pretty good, after about three
days in the country 1 He explained to me how he thought
that the whole place was civilian-ridden ; he was a man of
business ; he was able to see the possibilities that were
allowed to slip ; there was no “ drive,” and so forth. He
takes a sound view about commissions for Indians, and so on.
I think it was a good thing to have seen him.

Then I had a very long sitting with my friends. We
discussed Indianisation and the points raised in the morning
by Marris and Duke. As regards Marris’s point, the
majority were against him. Nobody felt very strongly
either way, except Charles Roberts, who felt very strongly
against Marris, and Seton, who felt very strongly for him.
As regards Duke’s point, there was much wrangling, and we

DELHI VIII

February 20]

269

finally arrived at the conclusions that there should be power
taken to create sub-provincial councils in the case of Berar and
the C.P. and Bihar and Orissa. Then we discussed Indianisa-
tion, and came to the following conclusions :

1. That the Government of India should be asked at once
to consider the removal of all racial bars.

2. That we should adopt as a principle the desire to obtain
an avenue to all employment in India.

3. That we should fix the percentage we desired to recruit
from India for the Indian Civil Service. Duke suggested
33 i P er cent< in the first five years ; 40 per cent, in the next
five years ; and then leave it to the Statutory Commission.

4. That we should take this opportunity of increasing the
pay or pension or leave rules of the Indian Civil Service.
They were monstrously underpaid at present : their salaries
were fixed by Lord Cornwallis, when they were deprived of
the liberty to trade, and if they were a disappearing service,
it was essential that those who remained should be treated
fairly.

Then I went up to see Chelmsford ; told him what had
happened all day. He once more made a prayer for finality.
I told him that his desire for finality was ridiculous ; I was
not going to say anything was final until I was quite sure it
could not be improved. He said Marris could not write his
report. I said that also was ridiculous ; Marris could write
his report now and alter such paragraphs as were necqpsary ;
almost everything was ready, indeed my notes could be made
into a complete report in a short time. He said that Meyer
was complaining that we had carried Nair with us all along,
and at any moment we might not be able to. I told him that
Meyer was wrong ; that Nair was not satisfied with the
proposals about the Budget, and these had not been satis-
factorily remedied ; that I did not like the settlement which
was now suggested, but only did it to try and please Basu,
who took Nair’s view of the old arrangement, and Marris and

270 an INDIAN DIARY [February 20

Duke, who did not like the annual wrangle over the Budget.
I thought an annual wrangle over the Budget was helpful.
Chelmsford suggested a Privy Councillorship for Meston,
which I think is rather a good idea. Chelmsford then told
me that he had no idea that I was dining with the members
of the Legislative Council. This, therefore, explains the
refusal of Metcalf House. What idiots they are 1 He says
also that I am not dining with the unofficial members of the
Legislative Council, but only with the Indians, and that
Muddiman had been to him and asked him not to accept
a similar invitation. I told him that if that were so I had
been deceived, and I was not to blame. He told me that a
paragraph had appeared in the Hindu by Mrs. Besant, saying
that she had told me that the English had broken their
pledges in the past to the Indian, and that I had answered :
“ Yes, I know ; we must see that it does not happen again.”
Chelmsford asked me what I was going to do about it.
I said that I was not going to do anything about it. If he
would be good enough to read my notes for the report he would
see what I thought about pledges which were alleged to have
been broken. That report, signed with my own name,
would be my answer to such accusations. Anyhow, matters
ended with nearly a breach of the peace, because then Chelms-
ford got up from his chair, paced the room, and in an excited
voice recited to me draft conclusions of a report which he
had either written himself or had had written for him. To
my astonishment, as he developed them I discovered that he
had left everything to the Statutory Commission, just as Curtis
wanted to. I stopped him in the middle, and asked him
what on earth he was doing. He said that he thought that
was the new plan. I explained to him that it was not. He
told me that he had quite misunderstood it then ; he always
thought it was. I told him that he was wrong, and that he
could not have done that if he had been good enough to read
my notes, or even the notes which I had circulated that day

DELHI VIII

271

February 20]

as the basis of the discussion with the Government of India.
Now, you know, this is all over again what happened when we
were coming back from Bombay, when he talked me into
the January 12 scheme because he pretended not to have
understood what I had written. My notes are what I want
in the report, and I told him so. He then said : “ I am so
afraid of putting my signature to something which will be
criticised and held up to scorn.” I said : “ That is exactly
what I wish to avoid, but we must have courage to sign
something.” I said that criticisms would afterwards be
made, and if they were good criticisms we would adopt them
in the Bill. He then began to smile and said that that
completely met his view. He became pleasantness itself
then, and we had two or three minutes talk on pleasant
subjects. Then he asked what I had said to Meston about
the Government of India, and said it might be made quite
clear in the report that we were prepared to drop this part
of the scheme. I said : No, it could not be made clear at
all in our report that we were prepared to drop it. It was
quite possible that we should have to drop it, but I was going
to fight for it for all I could ; and I was perfectly certain
that public opinion in India would not let us drop it. He
said it was not an essential part of our scheme. I said it
was. It was a separate part of our scheme, but that if he had
been good enough to read my notes on the Government of
India he would see it was an essential part of the scheme.

I then went and had a very pleasant dinner with Mr. and
Mrs. Mant, and played bridge afterwards, and went to bed
thoroughly weary after a hard and difficult day, much com-
plicated by the new light on Chelmsford’s present attitude.

Thursday , February 21. I am dictating the notes for
Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s diary before breakfast, and have
in store for me another hard day — Lowndes and Hill to
breakfast ; a friend of Basu’s, a member of the extremist

272 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 21

party in Bengal, after breakfast ; then a meeting with my
colleagues ; then lunch with Roos Keppel ; then an interview
with Chintamani ; then one with Meyer ; then one with
Bannerjea ; then dinner with the Legislative Council ; and
it looks as if I shall have to have Nair to breakfast to-morrow
before a long meeting with the Government of India, which
is to last all day. Then I am going to insist, I think, upon
Marris drafting the report in my tent ; I cannot let him out
of my sight. If I do not have to have Nair to breakfast
to-morrow I will have Marris.

Lowndes and Hill came to breakfast, and things turned
out better than I had expected. We had a discussion about
their committee and the Government of India committee,
and I think we seemed to be in agreement on all points. I
think they like the scheme as circulated, save this, that they
have grave objection to a financial settlement, and the more
I think of it, the more have I. We talked about Indianisation,
and they stayed till half-past ten.

Then arrived Mr. Chatterji, Basu’s friend, who is a son-in-
law of Surendrenath Bannerjea. This man is extraordinarily
intelligent, and if Basu had done no other work for India
than to convert him, it would have been a great work. He
was originally an anarchist, a close friend of Arabindo Ghose’s,
and his brother Barindra. Now he has joined the moderate
party and was a signatory to the Curtis scheme ; very keen on
young men going into industry instead of law. He told
me that his friends had bought a Swadeshi mill after the
partition and had lost many lakhs of rupees, but that his
brother had now made it into a commercial success, having
been trained at Leeds. They were Brahmans, but had now
completely got over their prejudice against working with
their hands, which was the result of travel. Then he told
me that in the main the so-called anarchists would be far,
far easier to get on our side than the extremists in the Congress.
The extremists in the Congress were mere windbags who

DELHI VIII

February 21]

273

loved agitation and denunciatory speeches. They were also
conservative in politics, believing in keeping the Brahman
influence intact and the other classes subject to them. Tilak
himself would neither receive nor give water to anybody but
men of his caste, whilst these seditionists who throw bombs
are the real social democrats, the men who want reform on
Western lines. It is they who go into a house to carry out
and burn the corpse of an “ untouchable ” ; it is they who
go about among the depressed classes, nursing them in cases
of plague and malaria, when nobody else will touch them.
He says that he has been defending and befriending a large
humber of extremists who are now interned. He is not now
talking of those bought with German gold, but his friends are
friends who want, he says, not to destroy the British connec-
tion, but to get rid of this Administration — this Administration
which orders them about, makes them citizens of a subject
race, and so forth. Therefore they want revolution. They
murdered policemen in order to discourage the police from
interfering with them ; they committed dacoities in order to
raise funds for their propaganda. That celebrated Indian
novel which contains “ Bande mataram ” told stories of
brigandage for this purpose, and they have learned, said this
man quite simply, that the Italian revolution started with
acts of brigandage. But Chatterji himself is convinced that
if our policy, whatever it is, has as its keynote partnership
and not subordination, these young men will see the errpr of
their ways.

His purpose in coming all the way from Calcutta to
see me was this — that when the report comes out he wants
permission to go with Sinha as a witness to see these internees,
to ask them to swear loyalty to the new order of things, and
then, if he guarantees that they will behave, to let them out. I
put the matter later on to Chelmsford, who talked about
blood guiltiness ; but, after all, they are people whom you
have interned, and not punished, and therefore the question

274

AN INDIAN DIARY [February 2 1

of blood guiltiness does not seem to me to arise. You cannot
think of using interment as a substitute for punishment.

Duke was late for our meeting at eleven o’clock because he
had been sent for by the Viceroy, but he came down and raised
four points against the new scheme as set out. I boiled with
fury because Duke when he came in said that the Viceroy had
said that he had come to see me, but found that I was engaged.
Nobody approached the door of my tent all the morning,
nor is it a likely story on the face of it, because every one of
the four points is a point which I urged with Chelmsford last
night without, I am afraid, being able to make him understand
the situation. It is not likely that he would come and argue
the same points again the next morning. However, I think
we have got over one difficulty this morning by putting in
the words “ The Governor shall have power at his discretion
to include in the deliberations of his Executive Council both
the B members of the Government and/or the Financial
Commissioner and the Advocate-General.” This gets over
the difficulty of the one European confronted with four
Indians.

I went up to see Chelmsford and talked to him about this.
He again jeered at the Legislative Council dinner, which was
to exclude Europeans.

I came back after lunch and saw Ramiswami Aiyar, very
friendly, as usual, and liking the new plan.

Then came Sir William Meyer, with whom I had an hour.
He was cynical, critical, amused, not very helpful, but also
not very obstructive. He obviously feels that he is going
very shortly, and that he is not going to be bothered by
quarrelling with anybody about it.

Then a short game of tennis ; then a long interview with
Surendrenath Banneriea, who interested me because he
obviously knew the whole of our scheme. He described
himself as a moderate, and kept on saying that all he wants
is power over the Budget. He has got a resolution down

DELHI VIII

February 21]

275

asking for an advisory board for the internees. I really
must try and see that the Government of India do not
smash it.

Then Roos-Keppel came to talk, and we had a very long
conversation. I think he is a little anxious to get out of
employment. After all, he has been ten years in his present
job and thirty-two years on the frontier. He told me how
he had very nearly got Egypt when MacMahon did. He
certainly would have been much better, because he knows
French, and, of course, is fully up on Mohammedan problems.
He hopes that our reform schemes will give the Indians some
real share. He does not care about Legislative Councils
“ and all that rot,” as he described it, but he wants to give
them positions of equality, so that they can feel that they are
men. I think what annoys him is that his friend Abdul
Quayum, who is now in the marvellous position of political
agent in the Khyber, a native, is not permitted to join the
Political Service because they will not have Indians there.
He told me one interesting yarn — that the blackest year in
India that he knew was 1907, when the Rajas all woke up,
and when Scindia planned a Hindu kingdom from Bombay
to Calcutta because he thought that we were going to clear
out, because we were weakening our grip. He also told me
that the word “ Casement ” had come into the vernacular,
and anybody who was a traitor was called a “ Casement ” by
the Indians. •

Then we went to the dinner of the Legislative Council
given in Nair’s garden. The story that they had excluded
the English non-official members from the dinner turned out
to be an absolute fabrication. Malcolm Hogg was there ;
Sir Hugh Bray was not in Delhi, or he would have been asked.
Basu seemed to be nervous because he had been accused of
being too compromising. Nair looked most angry and
sullen and forbidding all the evening, and I am afraid the
explosion will come this (Friday) morning.

27 6 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 22

Friday , February 22. I shall know in a few minutes,
because I have asked him to breakfast. You see, I have to
spend my time lobbying the whole of Chelmsford’s colleagues,
a task he ought to do himself. Yesterday he told me that he
had been thinking about interviewing representative Indians
to get their support, and had come to the conclusion that I
had better do it alone without him.

I forgot to record in Bannerjea’s conversation yesterday not
only that he knew all about our plans, which shows that Basu
and Nair have been talking, but all about them in detail,
because he knew of the difficulties about the financial provision
for A heads. He also said he wanted an advisory committee
to deal with internees, to review those that had already been
made, to enquire into their health and treatment, and to
advise on future internments, both under the Regulations of
1918 and under the Defence of the Realm Act. He said he
was going to move for this in the Viceroy’s Legislative Council,
and he begged us not to meet him with a direct negative.
The moderates wanted it to answer the accusations of the
extremists.

This morning I saw Nair ; we had a long breakfast party.
He refused to keep the words “ peace, tranquillity, or the
interests of the Province or any part thereof ” as a condition of
getting money for A subjects, his reason being because the
officials will always insist upon appointing new Europeans.
He recognised that you cannot by statute exclude this, but
if you could, it would get over all his objections ; or, in the
alternative, if the Indian on the Executive Council was a
good fighting Indian, and not a tame one, if he was an elected
member of the Legislative Council he would accept it. I
do not think this can be done, and I am determined to stick
to my proposals.

Then followed a meeting with the Government of India,
which lasted until half-past four this afternoon, with an
interval for lunch. I explained the new scheme conclusively,

February 22] DELHI VIII 277

and argued against my own suggestion for a financial settle-
ment in favour of the annual wrangle. The note I circulated
is appended. I have never spoken better, and I was intensely
gratified to find that everybody unanimously agreed that this
new scheme was much the best that has been produced ; in
fact, it all went through very smoothly, including what are
called the adlati , which are not dealt with in the note circulated,
but under which the Governor will on A subjects be able to
consult two officials who hold other portfolios, plus his B
Ministers, if he wants more advice on a big A subject, the
decision being taken by his Executive Council. Basu and
Nair refused to accept the words “ interests essentially
affected.” Nair wanted an elected member also for the
A subjects. Lowndes made the extraordinary proposal that
an elected member should be on the Executive Council and
one of the B Ministers should be from outside the Council.
This gives no responsibility at all for the B subjects, and was
scouted by everybody else. Basu suggested a panel. This
I do not think will do, because if there was a row they might
put Mohamed Ali and Mrs. Besant on as the only members
of the panel. Meyer “ ragged ” me about what he called
the “ new dispensation ” which I had brought back, like the
tables of stone, from the jungle, and hoped it was final. In
my reply I got a bit of my own back. I said that all these
transitional things were matters of expediency ; that I was
trying to get the one that would be most generally acc«pted ;
that I thought we were approaching finality, but as Basu and
Nair were not satisfied I should not rest content until I had
tried to find some words to meet them ; that, after all, I
admired the patience of the Government of India, but was
not surprised at it, because I had always understood that they
were more renowned for their patient investigation of the
subject than for any undue haste. I also said that it would
be infinitely preferable for my own convenience to make no
suggestions and to criticise other people’s, to wait for sugges-

278 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 22

tions to drop into my lap, but I felt that was an impossible
attitude for anybody to take.

Since the meeting I have suggested that the Indian member
might be chosen from the elected members of the Legislative
Council or of the Viceroy’s Council, or from the Council of
State of the Viceroy. That gives a wider field. I have also
suggested in the alternative that the Governor might suggest
a panel from which he would be willing to take names, and
that the House might strike off any name. This, I think,
would not do. I have also suggested that there should be
an understanding given that the Governor should take such
steps as he was able to before he made a recommendation
to see that a name he proposed to recommend was not un-
acceptable to his Legislative Council. This, I think, would
meet the case, and could easily be worked in practice.

At two o’clock, in between the two meetings, Mrs. Besant
came to see me. Of course, owing to the leakage, she knows
pretty well what is going on, and I think she means to support
in principle, although she will suggest all sorts of amendments.
I did not tell this to the Viceroy, because he would then
object to the proposals. She brought forward two grievances.
One was that she hoped action would not be taken against
papers for criticising my report. I said : Of course not,
provided the criticism was done decently, and you do not
fire the public imagination against officials. I told her that
I complained bitterly about her having said that I had agreed
that the English had broken pledges, but that I was going
to say what I thought about pledges in my report. She said
that she must have been misreported ; she had forgotten the
incident. She also complained about the internees. She
said that the Viceroy had promised to investigate the cases
that she brought up of torture, etc. Finally, she said that the
Labour Party were urging her to come to England : would
she be of any use to me there, or did I think she could do me
any harm ? I said : “Of course you can do me no harm.’’

February 22] DELHI VIII 279

I do not know whether she saw how ironically I meant this,
but it would not do, in loyalty to Chelmsford, to discourage
her from leaving India. She asked whether I thought she
would ever get back again, because otherwise she would not
go. I reminded her of what the Viceroy had said on this
subject. “ Oh, dear man,” she said, “ he always jokes
about it.” I said I would not interfere with a case of that
kind ; it must be the Viceroy who decided whether she came
back again or not, and there I left the subject with her. I
repeated the conversation to the Viceroy, who told me that
nothing would ever induce him to let her come back again to
India. This is such a foolish thing to say ; it might be that
she wanted to come back quite tame and docile. It might
be that she would be too feeble to do any harm owing to the
sea voyages, whereas keeping her out here might mean that
she would at once be re-elected President of the Congress, etc.

We finished the conference this afternoon, but Lowndes,
Hill, Basu, and Donoughmore are again to sit to see if they
cannot adjust the differences on Monday. I urged Chelms-
ford to have a conference with the Government of India some
time on Monday about the Government of India itself, for
it looks gloomier than ever about getting home, and I am
impatient about the thing, but I am not dissatisfied with my
day.

In the evening Chintamani came to see me, and we had a
little gossip, particularly about the appointment of the Indian
member of the A council.

Next Gourlay came to see me. Chelmsford had told
me that he had talked to him about being the head of the
propaganda department, but, as usual, I found Gourlay
completely perplexed by what Chelmsford had said and not
understanding my scheme, which consists of :

1. Supplying leaflets.

2. Helping the moderates to organise.

3. Editing quarterlies.

2,8o AN INDIAN DIARY [ February 22

4. Answering criticisms on the new reform scheme, and
generally being the link between the Government and those
who are willing to support it. Gourlay liked the idea very
much, and is, I think, willing to work it. I told him I
wanted him to settle his own conditions and form his own
department ; to treat the proposal just as Lloyd George
treated the proposal that he should form a Ministry of Muni-
tions. So ends the week. I have done fairly well, but, oh !
there is such a lot to do before I go home.

Monday , February 25. I have to record two days of much-
needed absence from Delhi. I went, by the invitation of
Watson, the Resident, to Bharatpur, for their second duck
shoot. This time I occupied the butt that had been occupied
at the first shoot by the Maharaja of Dholpur. There
were nothing like the same number of ducks, it being too
late and the moon being full, and there were only 2 5 guns, as
opposed to 50 on the last occasion. I discovered, to my
amusement, that all the coolies who beat are concentrated
at whatever end of the jheel the Indian illustrious guests are ;
indeed, before lunch I had very little shooting, because we
had no coolies at all at our end. The ducks kept on getting
up and flying to a sort of sanctuary behind our butts. After
lunch it was better, because Watson sent a protest, and one
man in a boat with a tom-tom came down. He worked very
hard, «but even he could not keep the ducks moving ; it
requires about 50 men really to do it properly. I did fairly
well ; I got 41 in the morning and 51 in the afternoon,
making 92 in all. I was astonished to learn that Dholpur,
who was shooting on the Raja’s bund behind us, had got 92
in the morning, and I determined, therefore, to try an experi-
ment. When filling in my card in the evening, which
contains in staring letters the statement that only duck picked
up are to be counted, I put down : “ Morning, 41 picked up ;
afternoon, 51 picked up ; not picked up : morning, 6 ;

February 25] BHARATPUR II 281

afternoon, 14 ; total picked up, 102 ; not picked up, 20.”
To my surprise, in the official return in the evening I was
credited with a bag of 1 12, from which I deduce that, despite
the printed instructions to their honest guests, they include
the birds they knock down.

I had a very good talk in the evening with Watson about
the Native States, and am more than ever convinced that the
right thing to do would be to scrap all their treaties, provided
they were willing to do so, and to form a model treaty for all
of them, something on these lines : They are sovereign

within their own States ; we have control of their foreign
relations ; we have the right to tender them advice on any
matters that seem fit to us ; to see that their railway arrange-
ments do not interfere with Indian communications ; and
to intervene in cases of gross abuse, otherwise they would be
absolutely all right. He tells me that Alwar is under the
impression that eventually a full Mrs. Besant programme
will be accomplished in India in ten years. Watson does not
like the abolition of Agents of the Governor-General, but seems
to agree that a Resident has not enough to do. I cannot
understand what he finds to do, and he actually has an
assistant, a young fellow named Gibson, who is also a sort
of tutor to the Maharaja. Raoji, the Maharaja’a uncle and
heir apparent, came to dinner. He is a young man of 34,
and a very nice fellow ; Watson says he is a very good worker
and an excellent member of the Regency Council. Watson
tells me he has got to go and see Dholpur about the reinstate-
ment of a Thakor whom he had promised to reinstate, but
whom he delays in reinstating because his uncle likes shooting
over his country. The uncle is, I think, now dying, so that
that difficulty seems to be solved. Plague is very bad in
Bharatpur. People are dying in the villages ; inoculation
goes very slowly. It is spreading to the towns, and even the
Raja found a dead rat in his palace, and has migrated. I
was told of two cases of small children who picked up semi-

282 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 25

dead squirrels, were bitten by them, and died within 24
hours. I did not know that plague affected squirrels ; but
it is a country in which one must not touch anything without
careful consideration of the consequences.

On Sunday I had a perfectly delightful day with Watson
alone. We went through the reedy end of the jheel up to
our waists all day in water. It was awfully hard work,
but we got the wonderful bag of 50 couple of snipe, five teel,
a bittern — which the old shikari insisted upon my shooting —
and a coot. We worked until we had not a cartridge left and
the sun was setting, so anxious were we to get our 100 snipe.
We thought we had 102, but when we laid the bag out we
found that in the dark we had killed two sandpipers by
mistake for snipe. It was one of the hardest and most
enjoyable days I have ever spent, and I feel very fit as a
consequence.

I have solved, I think, the difficulty of the formula, and have
got a way of expediting business, which is all the more
important because Kisch tells me this morning that there is
no steamer after March 17 till the end of April.

The Maharaja came in after dinner on Sunday night, and
we had a talk. He is a nice little man, only 18 years of
age, but looks older than Dholpur. He is very fond of
animals ; has two baby elephants living in his palace, and, I
think, will make a good naturalist. He is not interested in
public, affairs.

On Monday morning we had a conference in my tent and
made some progress with Indianisation. We also considered
Duke’s suggestions for the amelioration of the pay of the
services ; to put the Civil Service on a time scale ; to do away
with the maximum pension of half £850 for the subordinate
services ; to do away with contributions to pensions in the
Civil Service, and to amend the leave rules ; to do away with
the theory that it must be on half the average pay of the last
three years.

DELHI IX

February 25]

283

In the afternoon we had a long and very wearisome meeting
with the Government of India. We were concerned with the
composition of the Council of State and the Government of
India. Basu was very, very trying. Every time he got
some compromise admitted he wanted to push it further,
and I began to despair, and addressed a sharp rebuke to him,
warning him that he was going to lose everything. We did
not come to a settlement, Meyer and Lowndes strongly
objecting to electing the provincial representatives to the
Council of State even with the qualifying suggestions I had
made, because it would not allow for communal representation,
Chelmsford objecting that his power of nomination was not
enough on our figures. Finally, Vincent, Basu, and Duke
were appointed a committee to work it out. Then I raised
my question about Indianisation and the improvement of
the services. Chelmsford objected to fixing percentages ;
Meyer objected to the possibility of doing anything for the
services in the way of amelioration of pay. I harangued them
very fiercely, and we broke up at half-past five, after sitting
for three hours, with nothing definite decided.

Then I had a long interview with Chelmsford. He urged
me to be patient. I told him my patience was coming to an
end. Then followed from Chelmsford a burning desire
that I should agree to abandon the idea of going home on
March 17 or 19. I told him that I could not — that I must
go home ; that I was sick and tired of this. “ But,” he
said, “ surely you won’t spoil everything by not having
finished ? ” I said : “ We must try and finish.” He said
it was impossible to work against a time limit. I said that
if we were not through I would miss the steamer, but I was
not going to tell people at home I was not coming home on
the date mentioned.

I then went back to my tent ; wrote till dinner time ;
and then up to dinner at Government House. There were
no people to dinner.

284 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 26

Tuesday , February 2 6. In the morning, bearing in mind
Chelmsford’s words, I wrote letters of apology for hasty
temper to Meyer and Basu. Both wrote very kindly replies.
Basu assured me that he would not risk everything by being
uncompromising. Meyer wrote a vigorous letter, saying
that you can fix percentages of recruitment in the police,
education, public works, and Civil Service, but do nothing for
the pay. He goes further than I wanted to go in the report
as regards percentages, but I must insist upon something
being done for pay. The objections to increasing pay are
due to a belief that Indianisation is going to be postponed
thereby. The condition of Indianisation ought to be decent
payment of the services that remain.

Then I read the three sections of the report that have come
to hand, and made the comments upon them which are shown
in the appended letter to Chelmsford. I did not send the
letter, because I thought my comments would appear better
if I made them verbally, but they save me dictating now what
I felt about them.

Then I had a discussion with Duke, Roberts, and Seton,
and we got a little further on all matters of importance out-
standing. I also had a talk with Marris, and I think we are
speeding up the report.

Next I had an interview with Nair, who had demanded one
on the telephone. I was very frightened, but he came along
cooing like a sucking dove. He pointed out difficulties
which had arisen on the affirmative powers of the provincial
Governments, and assured me that he wanted to see me
rather than to raise difficulties at a conference. He pointed
out that we had asked for affirmative powers on A subjects
which was not as generous as Lord Hardinge suggested in
his red book or as the Government of India had suggested in
its despatch of November, 1916. He told me that he thought
he could defend the proposals as they stood, but he wanted
this question considered. It is an important question, and

DELHI IX

February 26]

285

I promised it consideration. It really amounts to this —
that with our big elective majorities and without the Govern-
ment of India power of legislating on provincial affairs, this
is necessary, but I do not think we ought to keep both the
affirmative powers and the overriding powers of legislation
of the Government of India. Both are unnecessary, and of
the two the affirmative powers is the best. Basu and Duke,
to whom I talked about this later on, agreed.

Donoughmore’s committee this afternoon on affirmative
powers came quickly to agreement. The new formula on
the Budget is — “ Essential to the maintenance of peace and
tranquillity in the Province or any part thereof, or to the
discharge of the Government’s responsibility for the reserved
subjects.” Duke, Vincent, and Basu came to complete
agreement about the Council of State, which is to consist
of 48 members — 24 officials, including the Executive
Council ; four nominated by the Viceroy, two elected by the
Chambers of Commerce, two by the landholders, two by the
Mohammedans, and 14 by the provincial Legislative Councils,
the Viceroy to allot the Mohammedans to any Province that
he likes, or to the landholders or Mohammedans in the Lower
Chamber, all such elected men to become members of the
Privy Council. Qualifications, 35 years of age, twice elected
to some legislative council or high public office.

Then a long talk with Chelmsford, once more urging that
I should remain in Delhi, and saying that the tents, were
becoming insufferably hot. I agreed. Then he said that
he had arranged that from March 1 2 Maffey’s house should
become an office for us. I told him this was not necessary
for four days. He then said that Parliament or the Govern-
ment at home would not be so unreasonable as to insist on my
coming home before my work was finished. I reminded him
that they expected me much earlier, and I should not feel
justified yet, until I saw the progress made, in tele-
graphing to them to ask for longer time. He showed me

286 AN INDIAN DIARY [February 26

Gourlay’s notes about the proposal for a propagandist
department.

Conference in the evening with Donoughmore, Roberts,
Duke, and Basu. Parcelling out of pieces of the report
ensued. We are getting on !

Wednesday, February 27. Up early this morning, dealing
with the report, on which I am spending the whole morning.

I spent the whole morning on the report, with the excep-
tion of a talk with the Viceroy on the same subject, and on
Persia. The Viceroy still has objections to fixing percentages
of recruitment for the services. Meyer still has objections
to doing anything for the Civil Service. What they will not
see is that now is their opportunity to do both or neither,
and if they do neither there is great difficulty about Indianisa-
tion, unless we go in for simultaneous examinations.
Simultaneous examinations have the objection that they will
allow the services to be swamped by the Indians who are
clever at examinations. If they were coupled with nomination
it would not be so bad, and I always hanker for nomination
in England too.

After lunch I had a very long talk with Malivaya, who
urged us not to fix percentages, but to let the best man win,
and who told me that he wanted to talk to me next week
about the Government of India and the powers the Legislative
Council was going to get. He was very nice, very con-
ciliatory, fully understanding that if Indians opposed our
scheme we should never get it through, because the Anglo-
Indian community would say : “We object to it, and the
Indians do not want it.” I assured him that we would be
ready to consider any amendments, but they must not be
coupled with abuse of the Civil Service. I like him very much.
He is so earnest. It is difficult to believe what everybody
here tells you — that he is a snake in the grass and absolutely
untrustworthy. I feel that they do not handle him the right

DELHI IX

February 27]

287

way. Do they handle anyone in the right way ? I know
that my views may be considered prejudiced, but I do not
think England knows what the Government of this country
is like — immersed in files ; writing voluminous notes ;
collecting enormous documents.

After I had finished with Malaviya I had a long talk with
Jinnah. Of course we are now discussing matters with men
who are interested in Government of India politics and not
local government politics, and naturally our schemes for
provincial responsibility do not interest them so much as to
know what their powers are going to be in the Government of
India, and I fear these for the present are going to be very
small.

Then a very pleasant dinner at Tony Grant’s, where Cleve-
land and Major and Mrs. Ross were guests, with a little
bridge afterwards, but mainly occupied with talk with Grant
about my suggestions made from Aden about the Middle
East. He likes them very much.

Thursday , February 28. This morning, after breakfast, I
drove down to the Secretariat and had a long talk with Vincent.
So far as the Government of India is concerned, if Bengal
will agree with them, they propose to treat Bannerjea’s resolu-
tion about internees as I would treat it. That is all right.
Vincent seemed to agree with everything I suggested, but I
tremble to think what would have happened if I had ngt been
here.

Then I had a talk with Chelmsford, who came to see me
about Persia ; and then I went to see Marris and gave him
the contributions to the report which I wrote yesterday. I
found him very miserable. He had been working all night
and looked tired out. He said he could not get done working
up my notes by March 17. I asked him what the hell that
had got to do with it — that nobody could work at a thing like
that against time. He must go on as fast as he could, and I

288

AN INDIAN DIARY [February 28

was responsible for the time at which I went home. But it
is becoming increasingly clear that I shall not get away on
March 17. I do not think it will be a matter of more than a
week, or, at most, a fortnight, and I cannot spoil the thing
for lack of a few days, and I must finish the job, unless I am
recalled home, which I quite anticipate. Well, there will be
one result : Tilak, who has taken a passage for home by the
same ship, will be disappointed. I cannot describe the
weariness of my flesh. I am tired of conciliating, cajoling,
persuading, lobbying, interviewing, accommodating, often
spoiling my own plans to quell opposition first from Basu,
then from Nair ; first from Meyer, and then from Vincent.
I have been counting the days to get home, and it has been
borne in upon me that I am going to spend a longer time
here than ever — here where there is no war and where people
do not feel it ; where a long sojourn is obviously sapping of
vitality ; where I am fighting every day against the inclination
to let things go ; while every telegram that comes from home
makes me more anxious. It may be that I am losing my
patience, that I am a little bit sore that the Government on
whose behalf I came, as a member of which I have been
working night and day, has never sent me, in answer to my
telegrams, one little line of encouragement. If I have failed,

what have I done ? I have kept India quiet for six months
at a critical period of the War; I have set the politicians
thinking of nothing else but my mission. I have helped the
Government of India, day in and day out, in the discharge
of their ordinary functions. That I have done, and if every-
thing else fails, I think I am entitled to some message of
encouragement.

Then home, and some talk with Kisch about the India
Office reforms, and then some talk with Duke about Indianisa-
tion and the date of departure for home. I have practically
made up my mind to telegraph to Islington to say that I
deeply regret I cannot catch the boat on the 17th, but that

February 28] DELHI IX 289

I have got a transport by which I am leaving immediately the
report is signed, say, a fortnight, probably, afterwards, but
this must be conditional upon a promise being made that I
can get a transport. About this I have to interview the
people, otherwise nothing will induce me to remain.

Then dinner at the Gymkhana Club — a dinner given by
Donoughmore and myself, fixed for February 28, at a time
when we thought and hoped and prayed that after dinner we
could leave Delhi for good on our way home. Alas 1 the
dinner took place with none of the other hopes. The only
absentee was Duke, who, poor fellow, had just heard of the
sudden death of his brother from pneumonia on the frontier.
It was a melancholy reflection that we had endeavoured to
arrange a dinner which would give fun to the Viceroy’s house
party and his staff and those who had been kind to us at
Delhi. But when the arrangements were made, alas ! all
the people that we could ask were the same people that had
dined nightly together ; the dinner had to be cooked by the
Viceroy’s cook, and the music had to be played by the Viceroy’s
band, so that it looked as if we were going to have another
dinner comparable only to the usual dinner party at Delhi.
However, things turned out to be better than was to be
expected. In the first place, we dined at small tables ; in
the next place, we had given the guests champagne, which
made the things go. Then Alan had taken a lot of trouble
about choosing the music, and a lot of trouble over the menu.
Lady Chelmsford wished that he would order her dinner and
choose her music every day ! We had a quite successful
Indian conjuror after dinner, who unfortunately confined
himself to Indian tricks, with one or two exceptions. The
mango trick he did vilely. Then we had a cinema film, and
left, everybody having obviously enjoyed themselves, at mid-
night, for Alwar.

u

[March I

XI

ALWAR

Friday , March I . After an uneventful night’s journey, we
arrived at Alwar, at the Maharaja's private station, at a quarter
to nine, and were met by the Maharaja, who had motored
in from his country house. We motored out there to break-
fast at ten, Charles Roberts remaining behind in Alwar to
look at the library, and we having to undergo what is practically
a ritual in Native States — a tiger shoot for the distinguished
stranger. Nothing thrills me so much as these shoots. The
excitement and the arrangements make the day pass like
lightning, but what I hate about them, which destroys the
happiness, is that I am expected to shoot the tiger. I have
now shot five, and I never want to shoot another. But I
want to see it done. I agree that it is essential to shoot
them, for the damage that they do to the villagers’ cattle, and
sometimes to the villagers themselves, is infinite, but I would
prefer that somebody else took the responsibility of the
climax of a shoot, upon which so much depends, and upon
which so much trouble has been taken. Never have I seen
the ritual conducted so marvellously efficiently as here. We
did not go out until news had been definitely received as to
where the tiger was. We left at about a quarter to one ; we
motored some seven miles, and then got on to pad elephants
with a most awfully comfortable air-seat that the Maharaja
had designed. He and I went to a tower, to reach which,
without disturbing the jungle, we had to climb over a hill.
I had never seen an elephant climb a hill before, and it would
not be tolerable on an ordinary pad, but it was quite comfort-
able on the Maharaja’s specially-designed seat. It was quite
exciting. We got to our tower, which was roofed from the

290

ALWAR

291

March 1]

sun, for it was very hot, and we were very comfortable. The
others were on elephants, Donoughmore and Raoji Saheb
of Bharatpur behind me, and the other three on the
flank. There were some spectators on the top of the hill.
The country is quite gloriously beautiful, rocky and hilly,
and we were in a sort of valley. Then ensued a long wait
whilst the beat came up. The tiger was in it, and Alwar
was able to tell me at intervals where it was from the signals
which reached him. After about three-quarters of an hour
the tiger broke out of the beat between the beaters on foot and
the beaters on elephants, and went away to our left. Just at
that moment, on our right, there came out of the jungle and
across one of the rides that are cut down the side of the hill,
like pheasant rides in Scotland, a fine sambhur. As the tiger
had broken out of the beat, I was allowed to shoot at it, and
got it. It was a good beast, with 38 ins. horns. It was not
quite dead, and Alwar sent a man to shoot it. He climbed
the hill and got up to it, and then fired seven shots at it before
he hit it. Then Alwar left me ; he said he had news by signal
where the tiger had been found, and he went back to get it.
Then ensued another very long wait. The tiger had nearly
crossed the road where the motors, camels, horses, and
elephants were drawn up. By everybody making a noise,
it was sent back ; finally it got back into the beat, and Alwar
rejoined me. After some little time, when the beaters were
quite close to us, the tiger broke out high on my left. One
could see it crossing the open space quite distinctly. Alwar
shouted directions to the beaters, and the tiger came down,
and came at a gallop right past the bottom of my tower. I
should have preferred, if I had been alone, to take it before
it got there, because it is always difficult to shoot per-
pendicularly downwards, and also, I am ashamed to say,
that I had forgotten to take the 200 yards sight down which
I had used when shooting the sambhur. Well, I fired once
at him, and missed him, and a second time, when I thought

292 AN INDIAN DIARY [March i

I hit him, just as he was disappearing into a clump of bushes.
Alwar assured me I had not hit him ; that he was lying there
and would come out and be shot. I said : “ Supposing he
is hit ? ” “ Oh,” he said, “ that does not matter.” I said :

“ What about the beaters ? ” “ Oh,” he said, “ they are

all on elephants.” Alwar is a most marvellous man, and the
way in which he arranged this beat himself was quite wonder-
ful. The elephants were brought round this small bush, but
the tiger did not come out as Alwar had predicted. It
charged back through the elephants and through the beaters.
Again Alwar left me ; reformed the line some quarter of a
mile off - , and they came forward again. Every now and then
one could hear the tiger roaring and charging the elephants,
which it did five times. Finally, they could not get it to move.
So we left our tower, got on to howdah elephants, and joined
the line. They then said they had discovered tracks of
blood, and what I had always suspected was disclosed — and
what, indeed, Alwar had recently confessed, that no tiger
would have behaved like this and refused to go forward if it
had not been wounded — that I had wounded it with my
second shot as it disappeared into the clump of trees. Now
began the most exciting thing I have ever seen. A stone
was pointed out to us, behind which the tiger was said to be.
It was not more than 20 yards from the elephants. Our
elephants crashed forward desperately — Alwar’s, mine,
Donoughmore’s, and Raoji Saheb’s. Every moment I
expected to see the tiger on my elephant’s head. But he
was not there 1 Then suddenly Alwar told me that he
could see it ten yards in front of him ; my elephant was told
to join his, and just as I joined him there was a terrific roar,
and I saw the heaving of the grass and bushes in front, but
I could see no tiger. Then he tried to get through the
bushes at the elephant. Twice he paused, and then,
turning, sprang back away from us. We could not see him.
Donoughmore and Raoji Saheb fired, and then all was still.

[To face page 292

Raoji Saheb of Bharatpur E. S. M. H.H. of Ahvar

ALWAR

March i]

293

We then saw the tiger going away. We crashed on, over
rocks, up hill, down hill, over another 150 yards, when
suddenly I saw the tiger under a tree, close up against it,
about 20 yards in front of my elephant. He was passing us.
He saw me as I saw him ; he opened his mouth with another
growl, and his tail was moving. Another spring was im-
minent, but I had time by then to bang in two barrels of my
rifle, and the breathless five minutes was over, and the tiger
lay dead. It was a tigress, 8 ft. 3 in. long. Then we went
home, very tired after our long day’s excitement, and we
would have been very happy except for the mauling of a
man, which I am assured is incidental to this ritual. I cannot
ascertain news of his health.

In the morning, before starting out, I had a long talk with
Alwar about the Native States, and he gave me a book of his
which he had written on the problem. I agree with his
arguments ; I do not agree with all his conclusions ; but
it is a clever book, and it is extraordinarily well written.
There is no Indian as intelligent as he is. I would rather
have him at the Imperial Conference than anybody else, but
he has taken no interest in the War, save to send his Imperial
Service troops. His pamphlet shows a man of imagination
and of industry, of knowledge and of reasoning power ;
while with regard to his conversation at dinner, when we
discussed the Hindu religion and the sanctions in Holy
Writ for a certain custom, the Aryasanaj, and its relations to
idolatry ; the Jains and their respirators out of mercy to the
bacteria ; the fact that Rama is recorded as having eaten
peacock — nothing could have been more interesting. His
defence of his drinking liquor because it was not the sort of
liquor mentioned in the laws of Mannar — all was Alwar at
his best. Then the conversation switched off to most wonder-
ful stories of leopards and tigers ; one leopard that was so
tame that he could drive a motor car up to it without dis-
turbing it at its kill ; how it had been caught, let out of its

294

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March i

cage close to this house, killed a goat at once, and then walked
into the house to sleep two or three nights in succession, the
house then being empty ; of a tiger and panther that had had
a fight ; that you could shoot them without disturbing them
at their kill, and so on, all leading up to the argument that
animals had characters just like men had. We went to bed
early.

Saturday , March 2. I spent the whole morning talking to
Alwar about the Native States and in dealing with the report
in my own room. We did not leave until nearly half-past
one, just before which a photograph was taken of the house
party. Then we left on elephants, and proceeded for an
hour’s journey through the most beautiful country imaginable
to the base of a rocky hill, up the side of which a perpendicular
ride had been constructed. The journey was very comfort-
able, but very hot, the sumptuous armchairs which replaces
the pads on the elephants here making all the difference to
comfort. Alwar had announced that it was a general beat,
as no tiger had been located, and that everybody would get
an equal chance of fun. He placed Halliday, Parsons, and
Franey on their elephants at the base of a ride ; Donoughmore
and Raoji Saheb of Bharatpur at the base of the next ride on the
ground, and he and I went to another ride nearest to the
beaters. I felt that I should have first chance at anything,
which .was not according to plan, and I determined that if a
tiger should by chance cross the ride I would either refuse
to fire at it or miss it flagrantly and obviously, so that Donough-
more should get a chance. I enquired whether there were
any guns on my right, and was told that Franey, Parsons, and
Halliday were there. As I had left them on my left, the
other side of Donoughmore, this news astonished me, but I
found that they had been moved, and were coming along
with the beat. This form of shooting in the Native States
fills me with disgust, because it means that my host will do

ALWAR

March 2]

295

anything to provide me with shooting, but expects that those
who accompany me are to be spectators, and to have no fun
at all. It is not in accordance with British tradition, and I
continually struggled against it, as the future account of the
day will prove. When the beat reached the ride on which I
was sitting, we got on to our elephants and went and stood
behind Donoughmore, to watch him have his turn. This
was to the good. No living animal had appeared. As we
watched, four animals new to me, a little horned antelope,
crossed the ride. Donoughmore, not realising that they
were to be shot, let them pass. Then an enormous blue
bull appeared high up. Donoughmore fired at it twice, and
missed it. We went on to the third ride and sat down at the
base. The blue bull appeared first, and I shot him. It was
an enormous animal. Then one of the four-horned antelopes
appeared at full gallop, and with extraordinary luck I killed
him with one shot, a very fine gallery performance that I
cannot possibly account for, for I am no more good than
a rabbit with a rifle. It turned out to be a male, but so young
that it had no horns. Then Alwar informed me that the best
climax, which was to be full of animals, was the fourth beat.
This pleased me enormously, because Donoughmore would
get the shooting. He said : “ We will go and take up our
position at the end of the ride ; it will take then an hour to
do.” I said to him : “ But it is Donoughmore’s turn this
time.” His face fell with displeasure, and he said “ All
right.” Then we started off. It was a long beat, looking
most promising — very jungly, with water at the bottom. I
cannot describe the beauty of the scenery — great rocks, the
trees, the high hills. To my astonishment Alwar suddenly
stopped and announced his intention of having tea. We sat
down in the shade and had our tea. Suddenly we heard the
beaters quite close to us. Instead of finishing our tea and
going to our position, Alwar sent a bugler to stop the beat.
There were poor Halliday, Parsons, and Franey, on their

AN INDIAN DIARY

296

[March 2

elephants in the beat, waiting for something to shoot at and
not being able to understand in the least what had happened.
He lazed over his tea, and when it was all over announced
that there was no time to finish the beat ; that Franey,
Parsons, and Halliday could now have tea, and we would
go home, when he and I would put on slippers and go and
sit in his cage to wait for a leopard which would probably
kill. I said nothing, I was so angry. I suggested that
Parsons, Halliday, and Franey should remain behind to
finish the beat. He refused this on the ground that he did
not wish to disturb the tiger which was probably in this beat.
No mention had been made of this before, and as the next
day was going to be our last day, and we were not going for
a tiger, I did not see the merits of this suggestion. If it were
so, he could easily have started an hour earlier in the morning,
which he never seems inclined to do. When we got to the
palace I told him that I could not go after the leopard because
I was too busy ; that it was Donoughmore’s birthday, and I
would be grateful if he would take him instead of me. I
was overjoyed to find that Donoughmore returned in half an
hour with the leopard. He had seen the kill ; he had
watched the panther feeding at about ten feet distance ; was
highly delighted and in the best of spirits. We had a very
merry dinner, during which Alwar announced his intention
of making us stay over Monday. This, of course, I cannot
do, but if Donoughmore does not get his tiger on Sunday, I
shall suggest his remaining. I tried to arrange some fun
for Parsons, Halliday, and Franey, and suggested that they
should go into Alwar and shoot black buck. Alwar assented,
but something seemed to go wrong with the arrangements,
for Franey did not go and Halliday returned, not having
found the black buck shoot. I am hoping that Alan will
bring some black buck home, otherwise I am certain he will
not get a shot. However, Franey had a shoot with Verney
at Faridkot a week ago, and I hear there are four panthers to

March 2] ALWAR 297

sit up for to-night, so I shall try and arrange that Parsons and
Halliday, Donoughmore and I go for them. The Maharaja
insists upon going himself, and will not hear of my not going.

I am writing to Chelmsford, for M arris’s use, a criticism
of Sir John Wood’s contribution on the Native States, which
I feel more and more will not do.

Sunday , March 3. This morning was spent by me working
on the report, while Halliday and Parsons went into Alwar
to look at the city, and to see if they could shoot some black
buck. My whole time is spent in trying to get some shooting
for my companions on these week-ends, but I do not meet
with much success, although they had nothing to complain
of at Kheri, where Halliday had his chance of a tiger and every-
body else got stags, and Parsons got first shot at a leopard.
It is the Native States that are so difficult. I am staying on
here another day, because it is not an ordinary week-end
visit. I work in the mornings much more uninterruptedly
than I can in Delhi, and am making real progress, with which
I am satisfied. Alwar has given me many new ideas, and
his power of organisation is so splendid that I like to talk
things over with him. A small trifle came to light yesterday.
I asked him about bees in the jungle, and he told me that
the jungles are gone through before a shoot with a view to
getting rid of the bees.

Then came the tiger shoot, which was a marvel of successful
organisation. We went a short distance by motor, some
distance on the pad elephants, and then got on to our howdahs.
I had a hasty consultation with Alwar, whom I am beginning
to teach, after many conversations with him, that I want the
shooting equally distributed. He told me that only two
howdahs could get a chance at a tiger, and that the others
would not see the fun at all ; it was for me to arrange who
were to be the people to see the tiger, but I must be one of
them. He said that he could not tell whether it would come

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298

[March 3

to the right or the left, but he knew I wanted Donoughmore
to be in the best place, and he would put him to the right.
I felt he might be at his old games again, and I was half
inclined to say that I would go to the right and Donoughmore
to the left, but then I felt that he would have the laugh of me
if the tiger came to me, so I abandoned this. I then conceived
the great idea of having Halliday in my howdah with me, and
told Donoughmore to take Franey ; Franey might get a chance
at the tiger if Donoughmore missed it, but anyhow he would
stand a better chance there than anywhere else. For Parsons
I could do nothing, so my suggestion was that he should go
with Alwar to a place where he would be a spectator of the
whole proceeding. As a matter of fact, Parsons assumed
that when Donoughmore was posted he was to stop with him,
and therefore there was no opportunity of his seeing anything.
I wish that I had a pen capable of describing the scenery, which
was finer than anything I have yet seen, I think, anywhere —
thick jungle, a deep ravine, tremendously high rocks on all
sides. The tiger had indeed delivered himself into our hands.
He had killed and walked straight up the ravine towards the
high rocks. Where I stood, facing me was a precipice of
enormous height, at least a thousand feet high, on the top
of which Alwar’s staff was sitting. Away to my right, at
the top of almost as high a range of hills, began the beat.
I was posted watching one of the rides, Donoughmore, on
my right, watching another ride. Between us was a pad
elephant to prevent the tiger breaking out where neither of
us could see it. On the top of a rock 200 or 300 feet up the
hillside sat Alwar, with a bugler, who could see into the
jungle and everything all around. When all was ready, Alwar
ordered the beginning of the beat by the sounding of the
bugle, and the usual shouting, fireworks, blank shots, smoke
bombs, and so on began. I had arranged with Halliday
that if we were out of sight of Alwar he should sit in the front
of the howdah, but, alas ! this went astray, because Alwar

ALWAR

March 3]

299

could see everything. I then arranged where Halliday was
to get first shot, reserving to myself the first shot only in such
a place that it was impossible to put the elephants where he
could get first shot. I stood facing the ride, Halliday
behind me, rifle ready. Soon after the beginning of the
beat the Maharaja yelled to me that the tiger was coming
behind me. I told Halliday to move to that side of the
ride and to be ready to fire. The tiger apparently came
down from the high hills in front of the beat, right across
some thin jungle, and sat down in the thick jungle close to
the pad elephant. Halliday would have got a nice shot if
he had broken, but, alas ! he did not. He went right up
again, almost straight where he had come from, and then
down, and came to the edge of the jungle within about
fifty yards of Donoughmore, who did not fire at him, because
he thought either that it was not safe, as he would have fired
straight into the beat, or that it would come closer — I am
not sure which : perhaps it was a little of both. So far
everything had gone well. It had looked as if Halliday
was going to have a shot ; Donoughmore might perhaps have
had a shot. Then a curious thing happened. The tiger
came straight across from Donoughmore into the nullah, and
right down through the nullah where I could shoot and Halli-
day could not. I fired, and the tiger rolled over. I fired
again as it was rolling, and Halliday fired. It got up
and went back along the same nullah ; was fired at by
Alwar from his rock, a long shot which missed, and the
tiger lay down in the thin jungle. The beat was stopped.
I was in agony lest somebody again should be hurt
by a wounded tiger. We went into the jungle on the
elephants, and found the tiger lying stone dead where Alwar
had seen it last — a very satisfactory performance, but, alas and
alack, I had got the shot !

We then went home quickly ; had an early dinner whilst
Parsons and Halliday went into Alwar to sit in cages for two

300 AN INDIAN DIARY [March 3

leopards. I have to record that, alas, again it was a failure :
I do not know why. I had the most entrancing night of
my life. We dined very hastily at six in the most weird
costume I have ever dined in, and then went out on a shikar
expedition, which was not to end in bloodshed from our
point of view, and not designed to do so. My costume
consisted of my pyjamas, a felt hat, a silk muffler, a pair of
felt slippers, thin white socks against the mosquitoes, a silk
dressing-gown, and a rug. Alwar and Donoughmore
accompanied me. We then went to a ravine, thickly jungled,
about 400 yards from the palace — a short way in the motor
car, and then about 100 yards across a stream on elephants,
until we arrived at a tower. This tower had a spiral staircase
up it, and at the top was roofed with windows, most of which
were open, circular, of course. Under the windows, at a
convenient height from the ground, were square loopholes
screened with black silk. On the floor was a thick mattress,
covering the whole floor space, with small pillows, where we
sat. We made ourselves comfortable. On the ground in
front of us, quite close to us, a buffalo calf was tied to a post ;
a little beyond it was a bowl of water. To the right of it,
and quite close to it, was fizzling away a bright incandescent
arc lamp, with a gasometer attached. Donoughmore and I
sat so that we could part the hangings and look through the
loophole at the buffalo and the surrounding country. Alwar
sat at.the far end of the circle, or rather lay, and there was an
A.D.C. sitting motionless and cross-legged. We were told
that we were free to move, but must make no sound, except
the sort of sound that was likely to be heard in a jungle : a
cough, a breath, a sneeze, a chink of stone or glass would
be fatal. It was opined that the tiger would kill at eleven.

I asked Alwar how he knew this. He said that it usually killed
at eleven. I asked him how he knew this, and he told me
that a buffalo made dung about four times in a night ; that
there had always been in this place two piles of dung, and

March 3] ALWAR 301

therefore it was about midnight, or a little earlier, when the
tiger came. Everything was still. A sambhur doe barked
in the distance ; some night birds, a night-jar and an owl
began to play about ; the stars shone through, and the moon
got up at about twenty to ten. The buffalo showed not the
slightest signs of alarm ; for the most part it slept ; some-
times it stood up. I was troubled with a cough which I
thought was going to ruin the whole experiment, but whenever
I had to cough I threw my rug over my head, and, as events
showed, I did nothing wrong. Donoughmore slept fitfully,
and we kicked him to prevent him snoring. There was no
reason why I should not sleep, but I could not ; the excite-
ment was too intense. At about a quarter to ten my attention
was attracted by the buffalo rising hastily to his feet and
looking in one direction. In the faint light I saw the tiger
pass right across our front. I kicked Donoughmore, who
rose and looked too. The tiger came straight on, a most
glorious sight, right up to the bowl of water, and began to
drink noisily. This aroused Alwar’s attention, who came
over and sat between us. The tiger remained with us for
about three-quarters of an hour. The excitement of it is
almost indescribable. By drinking first, it clearly showed
that it knew the buffalo was tied up. How had it this reason-
ing power ? How on earth it explained to itself that there
should be a buffalo tied up for it there I do not know. It
did not mind the noise of the night in the least. • After
drinking, it wandered all about, looking in every direction.
Then it came up to the buffalo. The buffalo showed no
sign whatever of alarm ; it faced the tiger as a rule and was
perfectly placid. There was no spring, and Alwar tells me
that the idea that a tiger suddenly breaks its captive's neck is
ridiculous : it does it by sheer pulling. It came right up to
the buffalo, which snorted in its face at a distance of six
inches ; then going behind it, as the buffalo danced round,
and making a great deal of noise, the tiger playfully hit it

302

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 3

low on the hind leg, quite softly, with its paw. The buffalo
danced round, and he hit it again with the other paw on the
front leg. Then it caught it by the neck, and a short struggle
ensued. The tiger never left go, but lay down, dragging
the buffalo’s head on to the ground. Some minutes elapsed ;
the movements of the buffalo got less and less. Finally,
with a swift shake of its head, the tiger let go. The buffalo
lay still on the ground, with its neck broken, and the tiger
walked right away and disappeared, just nosing at the bowl
of water as it went. Alwar whispered that it had gone to
the water to get another drink. After a time it came back
from the opposite direction, and then began to feed. It
never looked at the tower, but occasionally it stood up and
looked away in the direction from which it had originally
come.

All was over by twenty-five minutes to eleven. The
tiger, who had eaten noisily, crunching and cutting with a
loud noise the skin with its teeth, walked away from the
tower and disappeared in the jungle. We had some supper
and a drink and lay down to sleep. I do not know whether
I snored ; Donoughmore’s snores were awful, but the tiger,
which was not hungry, never came back. I kept on kicking
Donoughmore when I woke up, but I slept most of the night,
always when I woke looking out to see what was happening,
but all was still.

In ’the morning, the first birds that appeared on the kill
were the fawn-coloured Indian magpies. Alwar told me
that if the tiger had been on the kill, then you would have seen
the magpie sitting on the tiger and eating bits from its mouth —
really picking its teeth for it. Then came the crows, and
finally the vultures. As the most beautiful dawn in the world
began to spread we went home at about six and slept till
breakfast. Nothing could have been more beautiful, and I
appreciated to the full Alwar’s delight in it, without any
desire to shoot the animal, although I was a little sorry for

ALWAR

303

March 3]

Donoughmore, who has not got his tiger yet, and had this
marvellous chance. Donoughmore pathetically said in the
morning that I had kicked him to stop him snoring three
times when he was awake I Poor man !

Monday , March 4. This morning I have been busy on
the Government of India proposals for a full-time Solicitor-
General. I think that a Parliamentary draftsman is wanted.
I should like not to use the Advocate-General at all, but to
have a separate law officer.

I spent the whole morning on the report and on work
generally. At half-past one Franey and Parsons went into
Alwar to shoot black buck, to sit up for panthers, to dine
in Alwar and to join us on the train. We heard by telephone
at dinner time that they had got no panthers, but that Alan
had shot a small black buck. We went out, no tiger having
been marked down, for a chance beat which was to be full of
samburs, to that part of the hill which we shot on Sunday that
we had left over unshot. It did not take us long to get there.
We sat on the enormously steep rides going up the sides of
these hills. It is marvellous to see the elephants climb an
almost vertical hill. For the first beat, Donoughmore,
Halliday, and Raoji went to the ride nearest to the beaters.
The jungle was very thick along the lower slopes of the hills
half-way up them, and they sat on some rocks, leaving their
elephants at the bottom of the ride. I and Alwar went to
the next ride behind them. As usual, men were up on the
top of the hill all along, to watch what happened. The beat
went at right angles to the top of the hill, and on the other
flank were some low hills on the other side of the ride by
which we had come. A dried up river, with a little water in
it, was there too, and at the bottom of the ride on which Alwar
and I sat a tiger had killed a buffalo, but he had not been
marked down. Very soon Alwar began to get restive where
we were sitting. He said that a tiger could be within ten

3°4

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 4

yards of us before we could see him, because of the con-
figuration of the ground. I said I would not then shoot at
him. He said supposing it were wounded by Donoughmore,
when he came we should be in danger. He hauled up the
hill two pad elephants, which did not give us much confidence
in where we stood, and waited. Very soon a tiger was
announced on my side of Donoughmore’s ride. The beat
took a very long time, as the hill was very precipitous, and
there were gullies running along it thickly wooded. The
tiger seemed to be very reluctant to come out. Alwar saw
it once coming back towards the elephants. Donoughmore,
Halliday, and Raoji came back and stood at the bottom of
the hill. I begged Alwar to let him change places with me.
He said he could not ; it would take too long ; that I should
probably not get a shot, and Donoughmore would get a better
shot afterwards. Eventually the tiger, after some charges
on the elephants not pressed home, and after threatening once
to come out above me, came out well below me. I had a
glimpse of him as he passed behind a hillock, and fired inten-
tionally a snap shot, because I did not want to get him, and
missed him. He was galloping hard, but one could just see
that he was a fine male tiger, the first male we had seen.
Then we moved to the next beat, and I, suspecting that
nobody got a shot at a tiger unless Alwar was there, insisted
upon Alwar going with Donoughmore. The tiger came
out and crossed their ride far above them ; Donoughmore
did not get a shot. Then Alwar joined me, sending Raoji
with Donoughmore to an open space just behind. He said
the tiger having come out first low and then high would now
come out low and go to Donoughmore, where I could not see
it. Half-way through the beat he altered his mind and took
me up on a howdah to the highest and steepest climb I have
ever had, almost to the top of the steepest part of the hill.
Then a casualty happened. Suddenly the tiger appeared
almost on a level with my howdah above me. As soon as it

[To face page 304

ALWAR

March 4]

305

saw us it opened its mouth with a roar and charged straight
at my elephant. He was only about twenty yards off. There
was no miss possible here, for in another second he would
have been on the elephant, and the elephant would certainly
have been mauled if he pressed his charge home. Drawing a
careful bead on the tiger with great coolness, I knocked him
down with the first shot. He lay for a second, and then
crawled back into the jungle, but not before I had got three
more bullets into him that left him dead. So I got my third
tiger. It was a highly exciting finish, and it was the biggest
tiger I have ever seen. It does not compare well in measure-
ment, as it had a curiously short tail ; it therefore only
measured 8 ft. 1 1 in.

We got home fairly late, and then went to sit up for a
leopard which did not come ; we dined at nine. Alwar made
a little speech of welcome ; and we then motored into Alwar,
reaching there at midnight. A hyena came out from the
beat, but nobody shot at it, and we saw it in the road as we
motored into Alwar.

x

[March 5

XII

DELHI X— JAIPUR— DELHI XI— BHOPAD-
DELHI XII

Tuesday , March 5. Most of to-day I have spent on
the report. Various disturbing incidents have occurred.
Chelmsford is on the track of indefiniteness again — affirming
principles and leaving everything to be worked out by a
committee. I told Chelmsford that the reference to the
committee I proposed was limited.

Harcourt Butler came to lunch. He looks very ill and
tired ; he has had fever and is very lame. What he says
about his Province fills me with hope. He told me that he
realised that he was not in this business and that he was going
to accept anything which came, but that he is bound to say
that he likes our proposals. This is all so much to the good.
He says also that Willingdon will be very pleased at the new
ideas, because he was much alarmed by the old ones. That
is to the good. He tells me that he found Hewitt in England
admitting that everything we do now must be a real reform
without too many safeguards. I do hope it will turn out to
be so. He tells me also that the changes in the atmosphere
in Calcutta from an Ubert-Bill-like attitude when he went
home, to the President of the Chambers of Commerce saying
that we had got to co-operate with the moderate Indians was a
striking testimony to the success of our winter’s work.

Then dinner at Viceregal Lodge in the gardens outside ; it
was quite cold ; then a few excellent charades for our enter-
tainment ; and bed.

Wednesday , March 6. We had a long and wearying
discussion between Lowndes, Duke, Roberts, Chelmsford,
and myself, as to how to carry out provincial decentralisation,

306

March 6] DELHI X 3°7

and how to ensure that this is an unalterable policy. This
needed the examination of American, Australian, Canadian,
and South African precedents. I entered into the controversy
in a very bad temper. The need for a clear definition becomes
increasingly apparent as isolated individuals crop up who do
not believe in the doctrine of political autonomy. But there
is no doubt that statutory demarcation of territory must lead
to litigation as to the validity of statutes. I am the last man
to want this. What politicians have suffered at the hands of
lawyers and parliamentary draftsmen need not be described.
Further than this, I do not want to find that there is no
authority in India capable of dealing with a legislative situation
which requires action but in which the local government
will not move and the Government of India cannot. On the
other hand, if I leave the statute unaltered, it gives to the
Government of India concurrent and overriding powers on
all subjects comparable to the power of the South African
supreme Government, and what is to happen when a Curzon
returns to India who does not believe in provincial autonomy ?
A convention of a few years growth will be swept overboard.
The more like Curzon the Viceroy is the more impotent the
Secretary of State will be. The deadlock which Chelmsford
refers to as justifying the intervention of the Government of
India can always be created. Circumstances can be described
as a deadlock to suit the will of those who want it. I am
perfectly prepared to give the Government of India 4 power
to interfere when a Province trespasses on the affairs of other
Province or upon the affairs of the Government of India, and
I am perfectly prepared to preserve their power of Ordinance.
Further than this I do not like to go. But, as I have told
Chelmsford, I am quite prepared not to say that I will deprive
the Government of India of its universal concurrent and over-
riding rights provided that he will not say that he will not
deprive them of these rights, and leave it to be discussed at
home with eminent constitutional authorities such as Haldane

AN INDIAN DIARY

308

[March 6

and Bryce. I am not competent to do battle as a layman
with lawyers like Lowndes and Chelmsford ; and if a little
learning is a dangerous thing, a little law is a particularly
dangerous thing, and little lawyers are particularly dangerous
people. Anybody who has the right to describe himself as
“ an honourable and learned member ” thinks he has a right
to expound law. I have suffered from this on income tax
things in the House of Commons at the hands of people like
Lancelot Sanderson, Hohler, and Phipson Beale, and I want
my Reading, Buckmaster or Simon to put against my Lowndes
and Chelmsford.

In the afternoon I had Bingley to lunch, and we went
through Army questions.

I talked to Bingley, too, about the I.M.S., or rather he
talked to me, because he spontaneously made this suggestion.
There ought not to be two services in India. If the Indian
Army becomes united to the British Army in an Imperial
Army, the I.M.S. should be absorbed in the R.A.M.C. ;
if the Indian Army remains distinct, the R.A.M.C. ought to
be absorbed in the I.M.S. I agreed with him, and said that
I did not believe in the absorption of the Indian Army in
the British Army, but I did agree that there should be some
greater control by the War Office. But in any case, whatever
the combined service was called, we ought to set to work to
combine the two medical services, and this he agreed to.

In the afternoon we had a long discussion with the Govern-
ment of India on the Council of State and the affirmative
powers in the Provinces. We reached general agreement —
complete agreement on the Council of State, although many
of us regret that there should be in it an elected element ;
and complete agreement on the affirmative powers in the
local governments, with the exception of Nair, who was bad
in argument and who aroused the anger of all his colleagues.
I tried to argue with him, but it was no good, and all that is
left is that he is coming to lunch with me to-morrow. He

DELHI X

309

March 6]

objects first to the affirmative powers given to the Grand
Committee. I do not agree with him, but I see the force
of one argument — that the Government of India despatch of
1916, if ever published, would show that we are going back
on what they were willing to do then — forfeit the affirmative
powers in a Legislative Council which was to have a sub-
stantial elected majority, and their proposals were agreed to
by all local governments except Madras and the Punjab.
To-day all local governments agree, including Madras,
except the Punjab, and even in the Punjab O’Dwyer — and it
is his personal opinion — would take a non-official majority.
Now, although it is true that we are going much further than
1916 in B subjects, in A subjects we are preserving a non-
official majority, but unelected in the Grand Committee, the
O’Dwyer policy, and not the Government of India or the
rest of the Provinces. It is quite true that the despatch of
the Government of India was a bad one ; it is quite true that
Chelmsford admits that he is wrong ; it is quite true that
our policy is sounder ; but Nair is right in describing it as
less liberal on A subjects than was originally intended. I
could not argue it freely with him, because the Grand Com-
mittee as it is to be constituted is much more liberal than he
thinks it is, and as Basu, who is far wiser, realises. They
would have tightened it up if I had pointed that out. Then,
too, although Nair admits that my new formula for the right
of the Governor to restore his A provisions is better tlfan the
old one, he does not accept it, but he announced yesterday
that he would be willing to do so and to waive all his objections
if the Indian member of the Executive Council was compelled
to be an elected member of the Legislative Council. This
is a concession which it would be difficult to make to him,
for two reasons. First, I am never sure that I have got him
when I have made a concession to him, and he may find some
other point on which to ride off. Secondly, it is a matter of
principle. The Governor ought to have the right to select

3 IQ

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 6

the colleague that he likes best, and we do not want to import
at present any responsibility to electorates for A subjects.
That will come. It will come under our scheme by trans-
ferring the A subjects to the B category, but it ought not to
come by making the member of the Executive Council
responsible for A subjects responsible to the Legislative
Council. I suggested that the Governor should be required
to take such steps as possible to ensure that the man he
recommended is not unacceptable to his Legislative Council.
This does not satisfy Nair. When he comes to lunch to-
morrow I am going to try a new formula — that the Governor
is to be expected to look, in the first instance, for the man he
wishes among the Councillors of State from the Province or
the elected members of the Legislative Council in the Province,
or the members of the Imperial Legislative Assembly elected
by the Province, and only to go outside these if there is some
man of high standing and repute who enjoys the reputation
and esteem of the Province but whose other advocations
have not led him to seek election to any legislative body.

Thursday , March 7. This morning I have had a talk with
Chelmsford, and am engaged upon the report, writing a few
essential letters, and so on.

I have finally had to telegraph home that I am not coming
on the 17th. I cannot help it, but it is a very severe blow
to me.' A matter of this kind is far too important to rush,
and new points are continually cropping up. Chelmsford
has been at me daily to decide, and I only decided when it
became obvious that I could not help it.

I had Sankaran Nair to lunch, and he was very frank in
criticism of my scheme. He told me that he thought in
practice we were giving to the Indians everything they wanted,
but in theory we were withholding so many powers that it
would make the scheme unacceptable, because the extremist
would point to the theory and not to the practice. This

DELHI X

March 7]

3ii

arises, of course, from the insatiable desire of both sides to
see everything down in writing, so that nothing is left to
chance. Numbers must be jerrymandered ; statutes must
be made in order to assure the Indians that a knavish Govern-
ment will not “ do them in the eye,” and in order to assure
the civilians that the Indian extremists will not spoil their
game. Until somebody has the courage to risk, nothing
will be satisfactory. But I am not justified in taking a risk
which might prevent, if it went wrong, more ordered progress.
I sent Sankaran into the seventh heaven of delight by suggest-
ing a Standing Committee of the House of Commons to be
associated with the Secretary of State. He said he would
accept anything if that were done. I am sure it is right. We want
to train Parliament, and not have the spasmodic and ridiculous
procedure which is now called “ Parliamentary control.”

In the evening I had a very satisfactory talk with Jinnah,
who gave me an assurance of his support, subject to liberty of
amendment. If the Home Rule League supports us, I
think it ought to be arranged that action against the Home
Rule Press and Home Rule members can only be taken after
consultation with the Home Rule Committee.

Chelmsford is very stiff about my suggestion that the
Grand Committee procedure should only be used in excep-
tional circumstances. I must insist on that, or I will never
get it through the House of Commons.

In the evening a State dinner was given to the Legislative
Council. The Legislative Council has been in session for
a month. In no house in Delhi have I yet met at any meal
a member of the Legislative Council. In the party for the
investiture which Chelmsford gave at the beginning of the
session they were not included. They have not been to
Government House. This dinner, to which they are all
asked in a block to meet nobody but themselves and the
Executive Council, is the only substitute, and then the seats
are arranged — would the gods believe it ? — in order of

312

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 7

precedence, so that Chelmsford sat between Sir Claude Hill
and Sir Sankaran Nair, and I sat between Lady Chelmsford
and Sir George Lowndes. It really is the stupidest thing
imaginable. They tell me that when the garden parties are
given, when there is no war, they come, but why do not they
come to lunch, breakfast, and dinner ? Why does not
Chelmsford see a man who is going to move a resolution ?
Why does not Chelmsford talk and argue with a man who is
going to do something ? Ye gods, I cannot speak too strongly
of all this ; and political India will never work if it remains.

Friday , March 8. The whole morning was spent dis-
cussing our scheme with my adlati , and making improvements
in our draft conclusions. Of course new points emerged
which will lengthen our discussion, and everybody is now in a
mood of hesitating to improve, lest it may delay by a day our
departure from this place ; added to which the tents are
becoming stifling.

After lunch I had a few words with Chelmsford. He does
not see any objection to my alteration, which makes the
Council of State the real germ of the Second Chamber by
giving it power to promote legislation. He does not like
the limitations of the affirmative powers committee to things
essential to their responsibility for A subjects, but as we have
got a formula like this in every connection, I propose to
insist upon it.

I have just had a telegram from the Admiral saying that he
will put his flagship at my disposal on April 7. This is
almost a month hence. Good God, how can I stand it !
But Chelmsford assures me it is no use making other
arrangements, because he is quite certain we shall not be
ready before then. This means leaving Delhi on April 5,
and even if I could get away two or three days beforehand,
any other way of going home other than the flagship would not
land me home any sooner. I shall decide definitely on Monday.

DELHI X

March 8 ]

313

Chintamani came to see me, and finding that he already
knew so much by leakage, I took him into my confidence.
He gave no expression of opinion, and said he would come to
see me again on Monday.

Then we began again at three in a stiflingly hot tent, and
succeeded by six o’clock in getting all the way through our
draft conclusions, improving them and tightening them up.
I also got their approval to the Standing Committee idea.
It was the most strenuous day I have had. Nothing is so
awful as going through a draft with six other men. You have
first of all got to see that the draft expresses what is agreed,
and then you have to see whether you want to alter that
agreement, because I cannot regard my proposals as final
until I can make them no better. Charles Roberts was at
his worst. He could not see this dual work that we were
trying to do. He kept on objecting to new proposals — that
they were not agreed, and he always tries to draft everything
as if it was a statute. He is the most meticulously-minded man
I have ever come across. I believe if you asked him to stay
with you for a week-end he would not take the proposal in
that form ; he would understand it to mean that I was propos-
ing a statute which would say : “ Be it enacted that, on the
appointed day, Mr. Roberts, Member of Parliament for
Lincoln, shall proceed, save as mentioned in section 10 of this
Act,” etc., etc. My method of working is so different —
forming conclusions and training myself to discard them,
without prejudice, for better ones. This cautious phrasing
makes us in dialectics miles apart. However, there it is :
we emerged ! I think my Standing Committee of the House
of Commons, which everybody seems inclined to adopt,
will go far to save the situation.

In the evening I had a very long talk with Chelmsford
while walking up and down the garden. His temper was
nearly as short as mine. We went all over the ground
together, and I think there is still no divergence of opinion.

3H

AN INDIAN DIARY

[ March 8

I adopted the depressed attitude very much, partly because I
was depressed and partly because I want him to get a little
courage. I can always talk to Maffey and be quite certain
that Maffey will repeat it to him. My suggestion for a
Standing Committee of the House of Commons pleases him
more and more.

I then dressed for dinner, at which Chelmsford did not
appear. He was going off fishing and had dinner in his own
room. So we dined on the verandah, Lady Chelmsford
saying he was very depressed. I took the opportunity of
seeing him before I went off and soothing him a little bit,
but I had to put my point of view.

At half-past ten we left for Jaipur. I had never much
wanted to go there, but Chelmsford had insisted, because, he
said, Jaipur had made such a point of it, and was, after all,
the premier prince in Rajputana. I am bound to say I do
not regret having come. The party consists of Alan, Franey,
Donoughmore, Seton, Halliday, Verney, and old Basu, who
was asked by Jaipur. He has been quite a delightful com-
panion, telling us stories of his life. He gave one account of
how he had been libelled in a newspaper because he had called
a friend who was occupying the same tent with him by his
first name of “ Ramani,” which means a woman. Here is
old Jaipur, the oldest of Indian princes, and in many ways
the most conservative, asking one of the most prominent
of the intelligenzia as his week-end guest. It does at least,
I think, show that the idea that the Native States are outside
modern developments is a belief which has now no foundation
in fact.

Saturday , March 9. We were met at the station at seven
this morning by old Jaipur and his Chief Minister, Sir
Mumtaz-ud-dowlah Nawab Mohamed Faiyaz Ali Khan, and
immediately got into motor cars and drove off to a small pond
to shoot the little sand grouse and a few duck. The amount

March 9] JAIPUR 315

of water about this year made it a poorer shoot than it usually
is, but we collected six duck and sixteen sand grouse, of which
ten sand grouse and three duck fell to my gun. It was very
hot, but very pleasant, and at the little pond at which we
were shooting I saw no fewer than 28 different kinds of
birds. We drove back to breakfast, a very big and heavy
meal, at eleven, and at twelve started for the day’s shoot. I
ought to have mentioned that we were not at Jaipur itself,
but at a shooting camp of His Highness’s called Siwai
Madhopur. It has characteristic Indian scenery — perfectly
flat ground covered with thorn bushes which are just bursting
into beautiful red flowers, and occasional sudden ranges of
hills with precipitous cliffs rising sheer out of the background,
the lower slopes being covered with jungle. Old Jaipur is
a dear old thing, the soul of hospitality, and he has built for
us quite a delightful camp. He must be 70, and his white
beard is very conspicuous. He is very fat, and was dressed
in a gauze thin brown sari, covering white clothes, with
bare fat legs and bare feet. He has given me a royal recep-
tion. He cannot speak a word of English, which is rather a
bore, but he is continually interjecting pleasant remarks.
When I am haunted day and night as to whether my expedi-
tion has failed or not, whether my plan will be rejected by
the Indians and howled at by the English and laughed to
scorn by constitutional historians, I do take satisfaction to
myself at finding how excellently I have got on with the
Indians, be they the Indian politicians or the Indian princes.
The same method is wanted for both — a sympathetic desire
to find out what it is they want, and a perfectly frank expres-
sion of your own opinion. The terribly strained relations
between the Government and the people now seems to me to
be due more to the Government always talking to the people
with reservations, which show they are founded on distrust
than anything else ; and if you do not trust a man, he will
not behave as if he ought to be trusted. We drove in

AN INDIAN DIARY

3 l6

[ March 9

motors to the foot of a cliff, and then mounted 20-foot high
machans protected from the sun, each built to hold five
or six persons. On the one nearest to the beat were old
Jaipur, Donoughmore, myself, Seton, and Basu, who enjoyed
himself thoroughly, never having seen a tiger shoot before.
On the other machan were Halliday, Parsons, Franey, and
Verney. The beat began at one and lasted till quarter to
three. It was an easy place to drive, particularly with the
1,200 beaters that were employed, and the tigress which
was in the beat came out into the clearing high up on the
side of the jungle, about ioo yards from Donoughmore.
Donoughmore at last got his tiger. He drew a careful
bead, knocked down the tigress, and with two other shots
finished it. My attention was distracted from subsequent
proceedings by suddenly seeing two cubs coming out of the
jungle close to the machan. Seton, who was to have second
shot, missed them both. They went on across the clearing
at a hand gallop. I fired and killed one, and the other was
killed from the other machan, as it subsequently turned out
by Halliday, which was again good, because Halliday had
never got a tiger. Then I looked up and saw another tiger
walking in the jungle, on the far side of the other machan.
I fired two shots — it must have been 300 yards — and thought
I knocked it down, but apparently I was mistaken. There
was no blood and no hair, and no sign of the animal has been
found. So that we got three dead tigers. Afterwards a small
sambur came out past us, accompanied by two does. Verney
killed it. Then a hyena broke out far below me. I had to
wait until it was clear of the men waiting behind, and did not
get it. Two blue bulls came out slowly right across the
clearing, and passed both machans before the tigers arrived ;
of course we did not shoot. When we got down from the
machan to inspect the bag, very many curious incidents have
to be recorded. So far as I know, nobody fired at the tigress
except Donoughmore, who fired three shots at it, but

R. Verney F. C. T. H. B. N. Basil

\To face page 316

JAIPUR

March 9] JAIPUR 317

Donoughmore asserts that another cub broke back past our
machan into the jungle from which he had come low down.
This cub is also said to have been seen by Verney. High
up above where the tigress had been killed, at a subsequent
moment I saw what I thought was a cub or a leopard, and
pointed it out to Seton, who then said he could see it still
after it had disappeared from my sight. I told him to fire.
He fired, and then I said that was not where I saw the cub
last. When Donoughmore’s tigress was inspected, she was
found to have at least four bullet wounds in her, so that Seton
must have fired at the tigress lying dead on the ground.
What, in that event, happened to the cub I do not know.
The second mystery was that when we met the party from the
other machan, Verney and all his companions were firmly
under the impression that they had killed the cub that I
killed. After the tigers had been killed, news came of a
panther which had been marked down in another small beat,
and we went to it. I told Seton and Parsons to toss as to
who should shoot it : Seton won. We then went to sit on
a machan — Seton, Parsons, Franey, and I. Seton and
Parsons selected the positions they liked best. Donough-
more, Verney, and Halliday were on elephants. The beat
began. I have not recorded that it has been stiflingly hot
all day, very cloudy, with one torrential downpour of rain,
which, fortunately, lasted only a few minutes, and there was
a good deal of thunder about. As I say, the beat b # egan.
High up as we faced the clearing on the edge of the jungle,
on the hill opposite us, almost on the top of the hill, there
came a whole lot of sambur with a few small stags. Then a
pig appeared in the middle of the jungle below us, and then
Alan spotted the panther. Seton tried to see it, and could
not, so I told Alan to fire. It must have been nearly 350
yards from him on the side of the hill, nearer the top than the
bottom. He made a marvellous shot and broke its back.
We could see the panther moving, and we had the most

AN INDIAN DIARY

318

[March 9

agonising time, because we could see the beat coming on and
could not communicate with it, and I was dreadfully afraid
that somebody would get mauled. Seton did a little shouting
in bad Hindustani. Parsons and he had other shots, which
missed it, but finally, as it crawled about, Seton got in another
shot, and hit it. But it was still moving. The beat was too
near to do any more shooting from our machan, so Verney
and Halliday came forward on their elephants, which were
terribly frightened of the panther, which was occasionally
growling. However, at close range they eventually stopped
all motion in the poor brute. Alan was highly delighted
with himself, and I am delighted that he should have got it,
and not unnaturally he was in agony at the amount of heavy
ammunition which was being poured into his only panther
skin. It has certainly been blown about, but that is better
than having a beater mauled. Thus ended a wonderful
day’s sport — sixteen sand grouse, six duck, three tigers, one
panther, and one sambur. Nobody is clear whether we saw
four or five tigers, but I think there must have been five.
We also saw blue bulls, hyenas, pigs, and countless birds.
The Maharaja is the soul of hospitality, and promises us
after dinner, when we are all tired, with a demonstration of
ventriloquism, some juggling, and a nautch. When one
of his ministers was asked how many nautch girls there were
going to be, he replied : “ One each,” so that we are all
excited to see what is going to happen.

We had an enormous dinner, prepared by some contractor,
which, fortunately, we were able to discard in favour of the
more than ample food produced by the Maharaja, cooked by
his own cook. Indian food is excellent when well done,
and nothing else was necessary. Dinner was assisted by a
ventriloquist on the verandah, who gave us excellent imitations
of Indian birds, animals, and noises ; but after dinner we
had an entertainment which was more than boring, and to
tired men anything that lasted till twelve o’clock was hard to

March 9] JAIPUR 319

bear. It began with a protracted nautch, danced by hideous
women heavily clothed in stiff, gold embroideries. Their
idea of dancing seemed to be the slow movement of the feet,
accompanied by awkward gestures of arms, to a din without
end or beginning. I am told it was a bad example, and it
certainly was a boring entertainment. At a late hour a woman
conjuror took the stage. Some of her tricks were excellent,
but they were accompanied by a wealth of patter which to us
was meaningless and which was unceasing. The tricks took
a very long time to perform, and some, such as the famous
mango trick, has too much paraphernalia to commend itself
to me. Anything can go on inside a tent large enough to
hold a family.

Sunday , March 10. Verney, Seton, and I got up at seven,
and started off to shoot partridges. We saw a black buck
or two, which none of us wished to shoot, and then we started
looking for the partridges, but it soon became apparent that
there were none. We got back into our motors, and went
back to the scene of the activities of the morning before.
On the way I killed quite a nice chinkara. He was on the
edge of the crops, and provided an interesting shot. At the
water we killed twelve sand grouse and a couple of duck, and
then had to leave, in order to get back in time for the sport
arranged overnight at half-past ten. We were very disgusted
to find that there had been an alteration in the arrangements,
and that we were not starting off until 11.30. No news
of tigers, which I had anticipated, but we drove through an
old city into a huge gorge of entrancing beauty, and sat
on a high machan, waiting for what the beat might bring
forward. Nothing came out except one bear, which I
killed, without incident or event. I saw him for about a
quarter of an hour before I could get a shot at him. He just
appeared for a second, and then disappeared into some thick
bushes. He came out again, and I killed him with three

3 2 °

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March IO

shots at about 200 yards. The occupants of the other machan
got nothing at all. Six sambhur does and two very tiny
stags came out, and were not fired at. Jaipur said he was now
quite satisfied. I had killed plenty of birds and a very fine
bear, and I had also killed a tiger, but he was unable to
understand why I did not accept it. To-day was all right ;
yesterday he was disappointed with. In Jaipur the man who
killed the beast possessed it. He told all this to Basu, and I
told Basu that I should not discuss yesterday. The point
was that he thought I had killed it, and another member of
my party genuinely thought he had killed it. I was not
going to make a dispute about it, as I did not want the animal.
He and I were both satisfied that I had killed it : what did
it matter to let the other man think that he had killed it. All
the Maharaja said was “ Hukm,” and then relapsed into silence.

In order to occupy the time I discussed with Donoughmore,
Seton, and Basu what they thought about a bet I had made
with the immaculate Charles Roberts. Charles Roberts
undertook, before I left England, to drink his first whisky
and soda if the Congress accepted my proposals. I believed
that there was a chance now — I would not say more than a
chance — that the Congress would pass a resolution accepting
my proposals, and then add a rider to say that they proposed
to insist upon certain amendments : would that involve

Charles drinking his whisky and soda or not ? Donough-
more suggested that he should be allowed to arbitrate, with
a result, he alleged, which would be dangerous to Roberts’s
virginity. Seton said that he feared the decision would be,
or ought to be, yes, he must drink his whisky and soda, but
he was entitled to amend it, if the Congress amended it, by
leaving out the whisky. Then Basu said that he thought the
Congress would pass a resolution accepting, leaving all
amendment to subsequent negotiation, so as not to provide
their enemies with a handle for saying that they had been
captious.

March io] JAIPUR 321

After the first beat I begged for another one : it was only
three o’clock, and I must say they moved the beaters on
elephants with lightning rapidity to another beat on the side
of the main hills facing the railway. We got into the most
jerry-built machan I have ever seen ; it was only supported
at three of its four angles. Donoughmore, Franey, and I
sat there, the Maharaja and Basu going home, and Seton and
Verney going up to sit on some rocks above us. We sat
there from about five until quarter to six, when the excitement
began. We had been warned that nothing might come out,
because it was purely a chance beat, but the end was amazing.
The first thing that emerged was a hyena, an animal I had
long wanted to kill, as I had never killed one. It came
slightly below us, and I knocked it down with my first shot
and killed it with my second. Then high up on our right a
bear suddenly appeared, and was shot at by Verney. I sent
a shot after it afterwards. I think we both missed. The bear
tried to get back through the beaters, and we heard it growling.
Then we lost sight of it, save that something passed under
our machan which we could hear but could not see. Behind
us a line of stops had been placed, and if we had been more
expert, I think we should at this stage have turned round and
faced the other way ; but there was always a chance of a late
sambhur, and we had not the certainty that the bear was not
immediately in front of us. Shortly afterwards a rifle shot
rang out from these rocks above us, and we saw that* they
had shot something coming from behind. It turned out
afterwards to be another hyena which Verney had shot
within ten yards of the rock on which they were sitting. Then
our attention was attracted to a fusilade from the rock, and
we saw that the bear had come round from behind us and had
advanced straight on to Seton. He fired at it at a distance of
about twenty yards, and then Verney fired, and the bear came
rolling down between us and the rock, and finally died above
our machan. We then turned round and looked back, and

Y

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AN INDIAN DIARY

[March io

were rewarded by getting a pig. When the bear was
examined, only one shot was to be found in it, and I am
afraid Seton missed it, but Seton ’s first introduction to big
game shooting was pretty exciting, for if Verney had missed
the bear, they would have been in a very awkward pre-
dicament on their low rock. We could not have failed to see
the bear if we had been looking behind us, for the ground was
bare, but we lost our chances. Indeed, it now appears
that although they had taken up an admirable position for
animals coming from the direction of the beat, Seton and
Verney had planted themselves in the only path of egress for
animals coming from behind. We drove back, thoroughly
well satisfied, and we ended our two days shoot with three
tigers and a panther, two bears, two hyenas, a chinkara, a
pig, a sambhur, 22 sand grouse and eight duck — the most
successful shoot in the time that had ever been held at Siwai
Madhopur. The Maharaja was delighted. After dinner, at
which the ventriloquist again assisted, we had a series of
pretty little speeches. I buttered our host, his shikaris, and his
arrangements ; he garlanded us all, and gave me a dressing-
gown and a large photograph of himself. He also gave
Donoughmore and Basu photographs.

Monday , March n. We have had a short conference
this morning, and then I spent some time on the report.
At ic. 20 Chintamani came to see me, and his comments on
the scheme showed that he accepted it so far as he understood
it. He does not like the Affirmative Powers Committee,
and he wants all members of the Government to be paid the
same, Rs.4,000 a month, the salary of a High Court judge.
Except for that, he made very little comment. I hate the
affirmative powers, which I do not believe are necessary, but
I cannot go back upon them.

Then Hogg came to lunch, and I found him, although he
did not express many opinions, not startled by the scheme.

DELHI XI

March 1 1]

3-3

He told me that Welby had been making a speech refusing
the announcement of August 20 ; that he was afraid that he
and Wardlaw Milne were in a minority, but he believed that
if only a man would appear who would organise they could
carry any scheme. They wanted some capable organiser
to devote the next few years to getting a European and Indian
force behind us.

Then a conference with the Government of India, at which
we ratified my suggestions about the Secretary of State, and
came to an agreement on the difficult subject of the A and B
list on the lines of my most recent note. Marris is not
satisfied with this, but I am quite prepared to be as definite
as I like about what they want to do. I cannot be definite
here as to how they want to do it, because I am not a parlia-
mentary draftsman, and I do not believe in them.

After the conference I had a very long talk with Sinha and
the Viceroy about the proposals. Sinha said very little, but
I think he is all right and will be very useful on our side.

Then I saw Kapharde, who assured me that he was going
to England to see people about why India wanted Home
Rule, and so forth. He is an extremist, they tell me, associated
with criminal undertakings in the past, but he seemed to
me to be a sensible old man.

Then I went to dinner with Mahmudabad. Roberts, Basu,
and I were the guests, but there were various members of
the Legislative Council present, including Sapru and Jihnah.
Mahmudabad did not seem to me to be very good-tempered.
By the by, he told me that he was only 41, but he looks much
older. Jinnah was very pleasant. The food was excellent,
mainly vegetable, and entirely Indian. After dinner the most
marvellous dancer in India, for whose services Mahmudabad
had paid 1,000 rupees for the evening, was the chief enter-
tainer. The dancing was in short spasms ; the music was
the usual doleful wail of instruments ; the man was hideously
ugly, misshapen in body, dressed in heavy gold embroideries

3 2 4

AN INDIAN DIARY

\March i r

with bare feet. Most of his dancing consisted of brass-god-
like gestures of the arms, slow movements of the feet, with
occasional ecstatic whirls, well executed. He yowled a
sentence and then danced it. To me, I could see no more
resemblance between the dance and the sentence than between
the hollow boom of a monkey and the movements of an ant.
This is the sort of thing that would occur. He would say :
“ Now the fiery glance of your eyes has stolen the heart from
my bosom.” Then a few jerks and a twirl. “ Stop drawing
water from the well ; I want to talk to you.” Then a few
twirls and a jerk. But he was imcomparably better than
the nautch which followed, when hideous women repeated
the spasm-like movements of arms and feet, grotesquely
dressed and howling like jackals. They tell me that our
music is as incomprehensible to them. So it is to me, but
then I do realise that our songs have some sort of beginning
and some sort of ending, and I can distinguish between
lively music and doleful music, heavy music and light
music.

Tuesday , March 12. This morning I spent with Marris,
and the afternoon with the Viceroy. We made progress.
With the Viceroy our conclusions at last took shape. He
will not move on the Grand Committee point.

Wednesday , March 13. I slept badly, because I have been
thinking all night of Marris’s chapters. I have not written
in my diary anything about them, because I am going to
write a letter to Marris embodying my views, which I shall
append ; but it is interesting to note that Vincent last night
after dinner confessed what I had suspected — that the chapter
to which I took the strongest exception was one in which he
had had a very substantial share.

Sir William Duke came to breakfast, and we went through
his recommendations about Indianisation and the pay of the

March 13] DELHI [XI 325

services. I told him that to give alternatives to the local
governments meant two or three years delay. We went
through the Marris chapters, and then he left.

Then I had a series of interviews with Indians. First
came Sastri for three-quarters of an hour, but nothing
happened, because I spent the whole of my time expounding
my scheme.

He was followed by Malaviya, who showed himself dis-
contented with the scheme. He did not like the proportion
in the Council of State of officials to non-officials, and reminded
me of a more liberal recommendation of Minto’s that it
should be half and half, including non-officials nominated
in the half. He also wanted three Indians, and not two, in
the Executive Council.

Then Marris to lunch. He seemed to me very obstreper-
ous, and very much wedded to his objectionable chapters as
they stood. I brought in Duke afterwards to help, and I
think I made some impression on Marris. Of course this
is one of the matters upon which I must win, but it was worth
while trying to convince Marris.

In the afternoon Duke and I had a long conversation with
the Viceroy upon Indianisation. He proved quite tractable.
I talked to him also about a few other things.

I dined at Government House — a small dinner party, and
played bridge afterwards with Donoughmore, a man in the
Political Service called Durand, and Tony Grant. .

Thursday , March 14. I breakfasted alone ; read Austen
Smith on the Medical Services, and spent the morning
going through Marris’s chapters with Kisch.

At 12.30 Ainscough, the new trade commissioner, came to
see me, and I discussed with him the difficulties of his position ;
how he must not see Europeans to the exclusion of Indians;
how he must try to keep on the right side of the Indians, and
prove that we were not developing British trade with India

328 AN INDIAN DIARY [March 16

Bosanquet, Davis, the Agent, the Nawab Saheb, the eldest
son and heir, and so on. We were kept waiting some time
for the Begum, who finally arrived, and I drove with her,
followed by the others, to a guest house, where we had break-
fast. I found her very difficult to talk to, because her English
is so bad and her voice is so muffled in her white veil. She
was very pleasant.

Davis, our host, was extremely nice to us. But it seemed to
me quite clear that Bosanquet was the real Agent for Bhopal.
Davis spoke with great pride of the people trusting him.
He was actually asked to find a wet nurse for the impending
child of a Bhopal Thakar, but when it came to a question of
Hamidullah’s position, he was incapable of doing anything or
exercising any power : I should not think he interfered at
all. When I was looking for somewhere to spend this week-
end, it was Davis, who happened to be in Delhi, who suggested
he should run the shoot for me, and we were told to go to
Salampur, the station on the Delhi side of Bhopal, and motor
20 miles to camp. On the day we left, no real working plan
had been sent to us, but a wire had been received to go to
Bhopal. We came, and everything began to go wrong.
Our luggage was not sent straight from the station to the camp,
but had to be brought up to the guest house ; the 20 miles
run in the motor turned out to be not an inch less than 50
miles over a road so vile that the average number of punctures
per qar was about two and a half ; I had four. We took five
hours to reach our camp. Davis was completely ignorant as
to distances and localities. We then had a beat, which was
to produce cheetal and sambur, and which actually produced
one tiger, killed by Halliday, and one leopard, killed by me.
Both animals disappeared into the beat after being shot at.
There was no instrument of any sort or kind to stop the beat.
Men were walking to certain death. I never yelled so much
in my life or talked so much incomprehensible Hindustani.
Davis was powerless. There was no control over the beaters.

March 1 6] [BHOPAL 329

Providence alone is to be thanked that no calamity occurred.
Both animals, fortunately, were found to be dead.

We got home to camp after dark, to find that the dinner had
not yet arrived and that there was no food ; and then I was
kept up very late talking to Bosanquet.

Sunday , March 17. We started at six on Sunday morning,
in order to have plenty of time, and then had to wait an hour
when we got to the place of the beat, because the coolies had
not arrived. Kisch and Franey tossed for the chance of
getting a tiger, and Kisch sat with me. Our machans were
such as ought never to have been used for a tiger beat : a
wounded tiger could walk into them. The tiger came out
of the beat, and had to cross the bed of a river deeply grown
with grass at intervals. It was coming straight for Franey
and Verney, when a misplaced stop drove it back into the
beat. We saw it, but I prevented Kisch taking a chance shot.
It then appeared again, moving through the grass, where one
could not shoot at it, on our right. It came out of the grass
some 150 yards off in such a position that the gun had to
decide whether to shoot it before or after it reached a tree.
Kisch decided, quite rightly, to wait till it passed the tree.
To my consternation, a shot was heard, and the tigress began
to gallop. Kisch naturally missed it. Another shot was
fired behind us.

Then followed two half-grown cubs out of the grass. I
am sorry to say that Kisch missed. I killed one cub, and
missed the other. Thus a thoroughly “ mucked ” beat
ended ; and we went off on an interminable walk to another
beat, which resulted in my getting a 31 in. cheetal, and
Franey a magnificent sambur, 38 ins., with very thick horns.

We then came back to Salampur, the station that we ought
to have got out at yesterday. The impassable road proved to
be better than yesterday’s road, and the journey two and a half
hours instead of five and a half. What a week-end !

33 °

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 1 8

Monday, March 1 8 . I got home to Delhi early this morning
to find that my correspondence with the Viceroy had been
futile. It looks pretty bad.

An interesting point seems to me to ensue if we are going
to differ, even on one point out of very many. That does not
mitigate by any means the possibility of writing a general
report. Am I to write the dissenting minute to the general
report or is he ?

The morning I spent with my colleagues, and as the result
of a very dispiriting conversation, I have got to acknowledge
defeat. Not one of them, including Basu, would support
me in my row with Chelmsford. Of course it is not of
prime importance ; it is doing a thing honestly rather than
dishonestly, but it is the same thing. It is done, however,
and I had the humiliation of going to see Chelmsford and
telling him that I was abandoning the proposal.

The afternoon I spent on the report. In the evening I
dined with the Commander-in-Chief. It was a very cheerful
little party, consisting only of General Scott and his wife, the
Commander-in-Chief and Lady Munro.

Tuesday , March 19. I had Claude Hill to breakfast ;
worked on the report ; and went to see Marris. I had a
dismal time with Marris, who seemed to be in a funk about
everything, and had been so impressed by Vincent’s arguments
as to actually say that he did not feel justified in writing the
report unless he was allowed to write what he thought fit.

I never heard such nonsense. I told him he was a hack, and
had got to express only our views ; but when I get both from
him and from Vincent the same sentiments I feel a little bit
tired. It is a pure question of funk. Looking on the thing
as a whole, he wants to go back on everything. Vincent, he
told me, was going to dissent, and all the rest of it.

Meyer came to see me at lunch. I found him in a very
pleasant mood.

DELHI XII

33i

March 19]

I must chronicle that, just before lunch, I went with Sir
George Barnes to see the Government printing press at the
Secretariat, and thanked the printers for all the printing they
had done for me. I think Meyer and Duke, who are going
to meet to-day, will arrive at a compromise about Indianisation
which will cut short the deliberations to-morrow considerably.

And then a tragedy happened. I had been feeling pretty
seedy all day, and, taking my temperature after lunch and
finding it 100, I went to bed. Austen Smith was soon round,
and I have been ill ever since. (I am writing on Friday
morning.)

I never come across a doctor without feeling profound
contempt for the profession that I once examined. On
cross-examination, a doctor is always at his worst. He has
no science ; a few empirical rules for diagnosis ; brilliant
skill in directing appropriate nursing ; and an optimistic
desire to await events. Cross-examination he cannot stand.

I have had great fun with Austen Smith about this disease.
When the temperature went to normal, the first night he said
he knew it would go up again, because it was only due to
aspirin. The second night he said that it was now normal
for good. When I pointed out to him that I had already
taken aspirin, he said : “ Oh, yes, but I can see the differ-
ence.” When it went up again he said : “ I always expected
it would ; it is quite normal.” “ Normal in what disease ? ”
say I. “ I do not know,” says he — “ an ordinary fever.”
He is busy enjoying himself by keeping a temperature chart.

I suppose that will be a good thing to produce at the coroner’s
inquest ! But a more ridiculous supposed scientific document
I have never seen. He takes my temperature when he
happens to come in, and refuses to accept my readings of the
thermometer. I employ my time in taking my temperature,
and I find it fluctuates as violently between Austen Smith’s
readings as it does at other times. There is no account taken
of this. Occasionally he remembers to put in that he has

332

AN INDIAN DIARY

\March 19

given me a dose of calomel or aspirin ; sometimes he gives me
doses and forgets to put them in. Poor man, he is much
worried ; I simply worry him off his head. My latest form
of torture is to say to him : “ Well, doctor, what do you
expect to find ? What has happened since you were here
last ? ” As he is always wrong, it makes it all the worse for
him.

I have now been in bed, off and on, since Tuesday — to-day
is Friday. I went to bed to please him, but in bed I am bound
to say that nothing has happened which could not happen up.
He tells me that one puts people to bed to keep them in an
equable temperature ; but the trouble about India is the
equable temperature. You cannot catch cold by getting
out of bed now that it has got so hot. The one danger is
the draught. Last night there was a series of about eighteen
thunderstorms crashing round my tent. These storms are
always accompanied in this country by howling gales. The
wind whistled through my tent ; I was in a draught all the
night. Six of these thunderstorms I should have missed if I
had been dining at Government House.

Another of his arguments is that in bed one can apply
treatment ; but he applies no treatment. He gives me no
aspirin except at night ; and he gives me, merely when I
demand it, a wishy-washy medicine, the taste of which is
strangely familiar to me. I remember it. Up to the age
of six I was doctored in London by an old man whom I
regarded with great veneration because he was just approach-
ing his eightieth year. He must then, therefore, have been
qualified for nearly 60 years. I am now 39. This potent
drug, which has not the slightest effect on me, was, I suspect,
the acme of scientific knowledge no less than 90 years ago.
I put all this down because it will be easy to see afterwards
how that poor man, worried to death, with a wild look in
his eyes, must funk the dread hour when he has got to come
to my tent. It gives one certainly a fresh glimpse of the

DELHI XII

333

March 19]

troubles of this country, because what I suspect is that sun,
wind, exposure and fatigue produce a series of blood ailments
in this country which nobody has ever really diagnosed. It
is said by Clutterbuck that all the people in Kheri, including
the doctors, believe that mosquitoes are not the only source
from which you can get malaria. Well, perhaps what they
call malaria got without mosquitoes is a non-bacterial malaria
comparable to what I have got now. At other times I think
it is a touch of the sun, as it began with backache, and it is
a curious symptom that my temperature is always highest
in the late afternoon and has a tendency to go down late
at night. But it is no use ; I certainly do not know, and
Austen Smith does not know either, what it is or what to
do. Meanwhile, the sands are running out of the glass.
I am trying to do what work I can, knowing that every half-
hour’s work sends up the temperature ; that is indisputable ;
and I want so awfully to get home. Since Friday’s row,
Chelmsford is a complete convert to that desire. He told
Donoughmore on Tuesday that whether we got away on the
7th or not rested in my hands ; and he told Verney that he
hoped, for our sakes and his, we would leave on the 5th from
Dehra Dun. I could not stand his remark to Donoughmore,
so on Tuesday night, when I wrote to him and told him I
was ill, I asked him what I could do to assist matters as I
heard he had said the date of my departure depended on me.
The result was that he came running down to my bedroom
with a volume of short stories by A. E. W. Mason, which
he said I would find helpful on a bed of sickness.

Wednesday , March 20. I got up on Wednesday morning
and went to the conference at Government House. Every-
thing went smoothly. We sat from the early morning till
five o’clock in the afternoon, and we nearly finished, but I
felt awfully ill at the end. I went to bed at once.

334

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 21

Thursday , March 21. I got up again on Thursday morning
and went to the renewed conference. Result : we actually
finished, finished, finished ! The main incident was a
fearful row between Basu and Nair and the rest of us on the
proportion of Indians that were to be admitted into the
I.C.S. Chelmsford lost his temper, and I lost my temper,
and tried to be sarcastic, Basu plaintively remarking that
hard words broke no bones, and then he went on droning
away about the Manu and the Bengali, and all that they had
suffered. In the end we gave him an extra three per cent.,
and he expressed himself satisfied, Nair, however, saying that
he would not hear of it. The consequence is that I have
lost Nair’s support for the whole scheme. It is a great pity,
but I was too ill to fight. Nair had promised me support for
the whole reform scheme provided I gave him a Standing
Committee of the House of Commons, but this Indianisation
proposal had not then been considered, and it cannot be held
to bind him.

We got back before lunch, and whilst I was sitting in my
room along came Basu. “ May I come in ? ” I heard his
soft voice say. “ Yes, Basu, I think I have recovered my
temper,” says I, endeavouring to be polite. “ I forgot to
give you these,” said the poor old man, with his peace offering
in his hand. “ These ” are three silk bands that have been
made by his wife and girls for keeping up one’s pyjamas !
This wus too much for me, and the crisis was over. He said he
was afraid that the Viceroy was very angry with him, but he
was used to it.

Now there remains nothing at all but to hammer away at
this old report, and the trouble is that nobody seems to be
doing anything on it but myself, and I am in bed.

I went to bed immediately after Basu had left, and spent
the remainder of the day there. I slept very little because
of the thunderstorm.

DELHI XII

335

March 22]

Friday , March 22. I have been in bed all day. I had a
meeting in the morning with Roberts, O’Donell, of the U.P.,
and Thompson about the drafting of the A and B list, and
they are hard at it now in my tent, coming in to see me
occasionally.

Chelmsford came to see me in the evening ; reported to
me the absurd decision of the Home Government about the
Imperial Conference, under which the representative of the
Native States would not only have a lower status than the
representative of British India, but a lower status than the
representative of the Native States had last year, and we
agreed to draft a protest. He then told me that he had
discussed the names of the representatives with the Council
this morning, and that they had unanimously determined
to recommend Scindia as the representative of the Native
States, and, failing him, Patiala.

Saturday , March 23. This morning my temperature was
normal and I felt better. The good doctor, on hearing this
news, looked miserable, said that his anxiety was enormously
increased, and told me that he had a doubt lest it might not
be a mild case of paratyphoid, and he wanted a second opinion.
I told him I thought that now the crisis had passed we ought
hastily to consult the best doctor we could find to lay before
him the astonishing and astounding fact that a patient alleged
to be ill had no symptoms. He said he was going to get a
certain Dr. James, who is civil surgeon in this city, to come
at half-past eleven. According at 11.30 there entered
Dr. James, and they went all over the weary business again.
By that time my temperature was soaring up, and had reached
the dizzy and alarming height of 99.2, where it stayed for
the rest of the day. Paratyphoid, which had come out of
its cage because I had told Austen Smith yesterday that I
had only been inoculated against typhoid itself, was put
back again, and the weighty decision was taken that I was

AN INDIAN DIARY

336

[March 23

well enough to move to Dehra Dun. I asked for soldier
food : I was told that slops would do me no harm. I said
l did not wish to be as weak as a kitten when I got up. I
was told that my pulse showed I was very strong.

I did a little more work on the A and B list, and, after a
talk with Duke, Marris came in and said that it was impossible
for us to leave on the 7th, and that the 17th is the earliest
date on which we can go. I see the Mission staggering
home, Duke and Basu having found, at a ripe old age,
honoured tombs in New Delhi, then completed ; Seton and
Kisch having fulfilled their term of service, prolonged in
their absence year to year by order of the House of Commons ;
Parsons imitating the Mohammedan practice of using henna
to die his white beard red, accompanied to the Northbrook ,
then a very fine old ship, by a wailing lamentation from
Marris that he wants five more days ! I did my best to
soothe him, and to tell him that if we were not done on the
7th we would wait till the 8th, and then till the 9th, and so
on, but I suppose that we shan’t leave before, as I think, the
1 2th. This will not in effect lose us more than two days in
time. The Admiralty telegraph that the 22nd is the earliest
day that they can conveniently transport us across the
Mediterranean. As we were due at Port Said on the 19th,
there is no reason why we should not reach Port Said on the
day that we are going to tranship.

I then said good-bye to Bannerjea, who will support us. He
let loose a most unblushing assertion. He told me that
Mrs. Besant owed her position partly to religious and partly
to political reasons. I said : “ Yes,” and also to the eloquent
words spoken on her behalf by a reputed moderate who was
rated high among the orators of India. He perked at the
compliment, and then said : “ You are a politician, and you
know that when you are in a minority there is nothing to be
done but side with the majority.” There’s a noble sentiment
of Indian statesmanship for you !

DELHI XII

337

March 23]

Then I saw Nair, who confessed himself highly delighted
with our scheme. He points out that it gives opportunity
for advance in a way that he never saw a possibility of before.
The Legislative Assembly of the Government of India can
introduce laws to mitigate the horrors of caste ; the Govern-
ment of India can then judge whether they are going to make
a row or not, and accept them or refuse them in the Council
of State. This enables them to get a move on without
forcing the Government to depart from its neutrality in
religious matters. Nair confessed to me that he always came
to the Council and asked for at least 100 per cent, more than
he wanted, because otherwise he would never get what he
wanted.

I asked him whether this was really the best method,
but I could not move him ; he said it was the only method
which would prevail with his colleagues. He ended by saying
that he was prepared to come to England to help me whenever
I liked, although his horoscope told him that he was not due
there until July 12, 1919.

Then came Basu, also very happy. He has told Maffey
that if India wants anything more than we are going to give
them he will come and live in London permanently. He
tells me that Nair has gone down to Madras to tell Mrs.
Besant that she promised to accept anything which he accepted,
and that he is accepting this scheme.

Then a final talk with Wood, in which I urged him*to get
a move on, to get rid of his characteristic slowness. Basu
brought him a journalist of a name that I cannot remember,
who has been lurking in Delhi for two months, and who is
going to run a moderate newspaper, who assured me that
the extremists in Bengal will have nothing to do with our
proposals. I asked him what he had been doing in Delhi,
and he said that he was political adviser to the Raja of
Cosimbazar ; so his business is to write his speeches for him
and to organise the victory of the landholders over the Govern-

338 AN INDIAN DIARY [March 23

ment on the subject of income tax for agricultural land.
What a system !

Then a long talk with Mahmudabad. I got into his
mentality at last, and liked him enormously. Meston must
have got across him. He will accept what we recommend,
and come out into the open and fight for it. He is sick of
the Mohammedans who prefer Pan-Islamism to their Indian
citizenship, and so on. It was an affecting talk. He appealed
to me to advise him what to do and when he was to take the
plunge, and I gave him such guarded advice as I could.
They must choose their opportunity, but they must get rid
of a system which is only comparable to Redmond making
a Home Rule speech with Carson on the platform. Extremists
who do not mean well to the Government must be separated
from those who do.

By this time I was pretty tired, and I went to sleep, and
slept well. The doctor came, and finally consented to my
getting up. The temperature, tired of soaring upwards to
the dizzy heights of 99 odd, was racing in the other direction,
and was 98.

Sunday , March 24. I did nothing in the morning except
to have a long talk with Maffey.

After lunch Chelmsford came in, and he and Duke and I
spent the afternoon over the first six chapters of the report,
which we got through without disagreement. But there
is rather a horror over us all. The news of the German
offensive makes one realise, as one has always realised, that
in all work for after the War one is building on what may
be the sand. Are we going to have an Empire after the
War ? I can honestly say that my work this six months has
helped, because it has kept India quiet. But what is happen-
ing in France ? A suppressed German wireless claims
16,000 prisoners and 200 guns. The newspaper corre-
spondents in the published Reuters seem optimistic enough.

DELHI XII

339

March 24]

Is all going well ? The Commander-in-Chief, who came to
say good-bye, is quite optimistic. After all, so far as I can
judge, the German wireless is full of lies of the German-lie
kind. The Commander-in-Chief tells me that they always
count among their prisoners all wounded that they pick up.
Well, if they are advancing over our first line, this must
account for a considerable number ; but even without this,
an offensive on a 50-mile front as successful, let us say, as
the Somme offensive (which was no great success) ought
to have produced 50,000 prisoners. And as for the guns,
how can there have been guns in the furthest advance that
they claim — 2,200 yards. Machine guns, yes ; trench
mortars, yes ; but guns, it is impossible.

When our work was completed I was a thorough wreck,
with a splitting headache, incapable of going to bed, in fact
I had practically to be led there ; and Austen Smith, that
great prophet after the event, knew how weak I was, knew
that I would be weak, despite his assurances that slops were
all that I required. Well, it cannot be helped. I have got
to find some means of picking up strength. At present it
is quite clear that three hours’ work knocks me up. Sleep
is impossible in my tent. People run in every minute — first
a chuprassi to know if I want anything ; then a khitmagar
to know when I want dinner ; then another khitmagar to
know for how many ; then a chuprassi with a Reuter
telegram ; then a chuprassi with a telegram addres«ed to
Lord Donoughmore ; then a chuprassi to know if Mr.
Parsons is there ; then I ask for a glass of soda water, and
Kisch comes in to say that I sent for him. Then Roberts
comes in with a suggestion that I should that evening see
Ghandi to try and persuade him from going on a hunger
strike until Mahomed Ali is released. So I went to bed,
after making the announcement that anybody who came into
my tent would be hanged. Guard was mounted at every
door, and I got two hours’ sleep. My head was better, and

34 °

AN INDIAN DIARY

[March 24

I was able to sit up and see Grant, who came to say good-bye,
and stopped for two hours.

Monday , March 25. This morning I have received two
more chapters from Marris, about which I have much to say.

I spent the morning in bed, including lunch time, and saw
during that time Vincent, and said good-bye to him.

After lunch I got up and worked with the Viceroy till
dinner. Donoughmore turned up about five o’clock, after
having an awful day in getting home from his mugger
shooting, owing to a breakdown on his car. He seemed
highly delighted with himself ; he got three muggers and
had seen jackals called out to be shot and eaten.

March 26]

XIII

DEHRA DUN

Tuesday , March 26. We arrived at Dehra Dun this
morning. It is one of the prettiest spots I have ever seen.
The bungalow in which the Viceroy lives is a low, one-story,
thatch-roofed house, cool and nice, with a pleasant, small
garden. Seton, Parsons, Franey, and I are in another
bungalow some 150 yards off — all very pleasant, with the
4,000 feet hills away in the distance, and Mussooree on the
top of them. The lights of Mussooree at night make the
whole thing look like the back cloth of a theatre.

I worked hard at the report all the morning. The Viceroy
was closeted with Sadler and Ashishtosh Mukerjea, who had
come about the Calcutta report. They seemed awfully
pleased with themselves. Their report bids fair to be
unanimous. Sadler tells me that he is not going to complete
writing it till June or July. Marris is delighted with them,
and wishes we had the same amount of sense. They came on
to talk to me — old Ashishtosh, wily, quiet, looking like a
cross between a walrus and ’Ole Bill, of Bairnsfather’s cartoons,
watching Sadler orating as if he was watching one of his
own children. •

After lunch, to my astonishment I discovered that the
Viceroy was going off fishing as soon as he had finished with
Sadler. This is a nice method of revising the report against
time ! However, he promised to work when he got home
in the evening. I had a foul headache after lunch, and went
to bed for the rest of the day. The Viceroy returned very
late for dinner, having got one fish. We were to work after
dinner. Maffey came in and said that he thought the Viceroy
was too tired to work ; I said I was quite agreeable.

34i

344

AN INDIAN DIARY

[April 15

partly due to a fearful amount of work, and partly due to
the fact that I could find little that it was useful to record.
We have spent almost every day without exercise continuously
from ten in the morning till eight at night in revising the
report — Chelmsford, Duke, Marris, and I. Chelmsford has
sat through the whole proceedings, taking his turn in reading
out aloud the paragraphs, and confining himself to such
speculations as to whether the Government of India is a
plural or a single noun. Marris has fought consistently
for the right to say disagreeable things about people : I

have fought to avoid it. Duke is very slow ; he wants three
or four minutes to express an opinion on anything, but when
he does, he is usually right. There have been long argu-
ments, and I have had much to suffer from Marris’s temper,
which culminated on Friday by my determining that I could
not go on under a situation in which I was left to argue with
him, Chelmsford sitting in judgment or being appealed to
as a sort of judge, as to which of the opposing counsel
was right. So I lost my temper, spoke violently, received
apologies from him, and things went better thereafter. I
wish I had done it earlier.

The report is much better. We have knocked out the
alternative suggestions of joint sessions between the Council
of State and the Legislative Assembly, the will of the Legisla-
tive Assembly prevailing. I do not know whether Nair will
object to this, but Basu wrote to me that he had no dissent.
We have also much improved the drafting.

There was a terrible incident on Thursday, which cost us,
I take it, three days in concluding our labours. Vincent was
invited to make his comments on the report. He began to
complain about suppression of truth, and it soon became
obvious that every alteration in the report which we had made
to which Marris did not assent had been reported to Vincent,
and Vincent had been asked to fight the battle over again.
Chelmsford lost his temper almost immediately, with the

DEHRA DUN

April 15]

345

result that Vincent put up his papers and left, saying that he
had no responsibility in the matter and would do no more.

I had to make the peace, and it took me some time. We are
in this position because we have to take opinion with us,
and if Vincent dissents, Nair will also dissent.

There is nothing much to record of other matters. Our
gloom and depression have been increased by the steady
postponement of our departure for home, but it is no use now
avoiding the necessary steps for completion. Lowndes
turned up ; he was to have gone fishing with the Viceroy,
but, of course, that was postponed in the altered circumstances,
and he was most useful to us in assisting in the drafting.
There was one afternoon during which scribblers were
scribbling and printers were printing, and there was nothing
to do, so I went to Mohand to shoot, and the Viceroy went
fishing. Mohand is a very beautiful place in the Siwalik
hills, with glorious flowering trees and creepers, mainly
bohinias — very hilly. Our plan consisted in driving cheetal
into the dried-up beds of rivers, where we sat on machans
to shoot them. There were few good ones, and I was not
successful in getting anything worth having. It is run by
a subhadar of the bodyguard called Jaffar ; it is much over-
shot.

I paid a hasty visit one afternoon to the Forest Research
Institute, and had dinner with Osmaston, whom I also met
at dinner at Kisch’s.

Three events have got to be “ecorded. The first is that
Tilak and company, who were proceeding home on a Home
Rule mission, were stopped at Colombo by the Home Govern-
ment. The second is the appalling financial crisis in Bombay.
The third is the Prime Minister’s appeal for further effort
in the War. With each of these, and the events that follow
therefrom, I must deal in detail.

The Tilak incident was very characteristic. Passports
were issued to him and his friends without reference to me,

AN INDIAN DIARY

346

[April 15

but in issuing them, it seems to me that the Government were
clearly right. Tilak had to go home to fight the Chirol case ;
and to stop his expedition at the time that the papers are full
of Lord Sydenham’s activities would have been a fatal
mistake. But, having allowed him to go home, either out
of sheer malice or crass stupidity, the Home Department,
without reference to the Viceroy, sent home a telegram
containing so black a picture of Tilak’s antecedents and
probable activities that I do not wonder the Home Govern-
ment were nervous. It seems a little strange, however,
that they should have cancelled a passport given by a duly
authorised authority without consulting him. However, it
was done. I drafted for the Viceroy a telegram of protest,
which was ultimately sent, with a request for reconsideration.
It has failed ; the Home Government refuse to let him sail,
mainly on the ground that the General Staff will not have it ;
so that it seems that Henry Wilson is governing England.
I asked them to telegraph home accepting the Government’s
decision, and suggesting a stop being put upon Sydenham’s
organisation. This they won’t do, and the only thing I
am confident about is that they will handle Tilak stupidly
when he returns.

The incident at Bombay was equally serious. The first
lesson to be drawn from it is the extraordinary disadvantage
of governing India with no permanent staff, and with at least
two capitals. I am not disposed to think at this juncture
we can move again from Delhi, but nothing could illustrate
the inconvenience of the present system more than what
occurred. The permanent Finance Department was at
Simla ; Meyer was touring Madras and Bombay, and was,
as a matter of fact, in Madras. The Viceroy was in Dehra
Dun ; the Controller of Currency was in Calcutta. Suddenly
a telegram comes from Howard, the Finance Secretary,
saying that there has been a run on silver in Bombay ; that
45 lakhs were drawn out on Tuesday ; that the run is con-

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April 15]

tinuing ; that the Controller of Currency is sending all that
he can from Calcutta ; that if it continues they have not
the coin to meet it, and the only thing to do then would be to
close the banks for three days, and to issue an Ordinance of
inconvertibility. Chelmsford passed the telegram on to me
to deal with. I pointed out that the telegram contained
absolutely no reference to the causes of the run. Is it due
to panic because of the German successes on the Western
Front ? Is it from large holders or small holders ? I
pointed out that they had not informed the Secretary of State,
who is responsible for currency. They even suggested not
saying anything for two or three days, when the people ought
to be told at once. I suggested the issue of an appeal from
the Viceroy to the people not to withdraw silver, and to bring
their silver to the Government. Telegrams fly about, but
nothing is done ; no suggestion is accepted, and I have
nothing further to record in this connection until yesterday
(Sunday), when I saw Meyer. Speaking from memory,
the run was 45 lakhs on Tuesday ; 36 on Wednesday ; 27
on Thursday ; 27 on Friday ; and 28 on Saturday. The
banks then closed till Monday, when 57 lakhs would be
available, including the 10 lakhs a day coined by the Mint ;
and, in anticipation of India Office sanction, Meyer was
going to coin 15 rupee gold pieces with his own raw gold,
which might relieve the situation.

The run was due to the rotten system of cotton speculation
in this country. They buy cotton forward ; the settlement
is annual, on April 25. The man who is “ caught ” either
has to produce a substantial sum of money, or, having made
his forward contract for purchase of cotton, produce the
cotton. The silver is wanted for the ryot. No sort of indica-
tion seem to me to be forthcoming to prove that currency
notes have been attempted for the ryot. Meyer was very
hysterical. He pointed out, which is quite true, that increased
financial assistance from India to the War could not be con-

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[April 15

sidered until we knew the effects of probable inconvertibility,
which I, for one, think would be very serious. People may
refuse to sell their goods for paper, and you may have riots
and revolution, because all these long months no single word
has ever been spoken to anybody in India about the necessity
of husbanding silver. We made appeals in England ad
nauseam about gold and silver at a time when I know full well
it looked as if we were in sight of inconvertibility every hour,
when we received the banking returns at the Treasury every
night, when we shook our heads and resorted to all sorts of
desperate expedients for meeting our obligations in America.
Meyer complains that we did not send him specie from
England.

Well, the Committee of Enquiry that will come from
this horrible event will prove that the India Office did
everything it could. It was the Treasury that stood in the
way, and the Treasury were right in standing in the way.
Inconvertibility in India is serious ; inconvertibility in
England meant the end of the War. But what I can never
forgive Meyer for is that he never explained the situation to
any Indian. Again, ample telegrams and despatches from
me at the India Office will prove that I pressed this on the
Government of India until I was tired of doing it, and even
last night Meyer had the effrontery to say it was now too late.
At the moment of writing (Monday) the warning that the
Ordinance is coming has gone to all local governments.
The situation is worse. The demand for silver has spread
to the United Provinces, and there are only two lakhs left
in Calcutta. It now seems that nothing can be done ; but
I say unhesitatingly that the Government of India has never
made a single effort to avert this crisis, except to ask for money
from England, which anybody who was not completely
parochial would realise could not be done. Why it was
only the other day that Meyer was touring and calling for
money for the loan, without mentioning the financial

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349

stringency. You must take people into your confidence in
war time.

This brings me to another point. Last week-end a telegram
arrived from the Prime Minister, pointing out the gravity
of the situation at home, and asking for more assistance from
India. Reuters were full of descriptions of what the Colonies
were doing. There was nothing coming from India. I
at once told the Viceroy that, in my opinion, he ought to
hold a conference to see what, in every department, could
be done, and suggested his summoning the heads of depart-
ments to Dehra Dun. I told him that I wished to be in a
position to explain at home that I was satisfied that India
was doing everything possible. What was the result ? After
a consultation with Vincent, he said he was holding a meeting
of his Executive Council when he got to Simla on the 20th ;
that he would immediately send to the heads of local govern-
ments and to the members of his Executive Council, asking
them to consider what was practicable ; and would I prepare
the sort of points that I wanted them to consider. There
you are again ; they can do nothing by themselves. I am
not here to do this work ; I want to go home and away from
these people altogether. I prepared a plan. At last it
dawned upon the Viceroy, after I had dropped strong hints,
that if I was to go into the matter at all, and if the conference
were to be held at my suggestion, I wanted to be present —
that I ought to be present, and he then asked me to gome to
Simla with him ; it might entail a certain delay in the report.
Accordingly, I agreed to come, and to leave Dehra Dun on
Saturday night for Simla. We hoped then to get the reprint
of the report to read on Saturday and Sunday, finally to revise
it on Monday, to send it to the printers, who would take one
and a half days to make the corrections ; to hold our confer-
ence on Tuesday, and for me to leave, thank God, for the ship
on Wednesday afternoon. The whole of this arrangement
has been upset by the interposition of Vincent into the report,

AN INDIAN DIARY

35 °

[ April 15

so that we shall not get the revise of the report until Tuesday
morning, the day on which we have fixed the conference.
On Tuesday we shall be busy all day ; we shall have to read
it on Wednesday, revise it on Thursday, and leave on Saturday.
This is the timetable, to which I mean to adhere.

April 1 5]

XIV

SIMLA

On Saturday night we left for Simla. We had an excellent
train journey to Kalka, which we reached at eight o’clock in
the morning. We had breakfast there, and at nine o’clock
we started up the hill on a motor trolley on the railway line.
The scenery is, of course, gorgeous, but four hours round
hairpin curves is very tiring, and I had quite enough of it
when we arrived on a perfect, though cold, day at Simla,
with the glorious hills stretching all round it. I myself am
not fond of hills ; they obscure the view ; and the sight of
snow-capped mountains does not please me. I cannot say
anything about the appearance of Simla, which I have seen
before, because I have not left Viceregal Lodge since I
arrived here. We went from Summer Hill station up to
Government House in rickshaws, a form of conveyance
which I, personally, find most distasteful. One would never
allow a pony to take one uphill, and to make men do it, puffing
and panting, seems to me quite horrible. Hill stations
ought not to exist.

Viceregal Lodge is exactly like a Scotch hydro — the same
sort of appearance, the same sort of architecture, t.l\p same
sort of equipment of tennis lawns and sticky courts, and so
forth. Inside it is comfortable, with suites of apartments
comparable to those of the Carlton or the Ritz, with the usual
mountain scenery from the windows. Since arriving here I
have been at work without ceasing, continuously, without
exercise, from two o’clock yesterday afternoon until the
moment at which I write, considering the report. Is it to
be believed that, after bringing me up here, the conference
is to take the form of a meeting of the Executive Council,

35i

AN INDIAN DIARY

3 S 2

[April 15

at which I am not to be present, and then I am to meet them
after they have confabulated together ! This is the sort of
step they take to preserve their little dignity. They have
not been able to do without me, but they do not want it to
appear that I am giving the lead.

I had a long talk with the Commander-in-Chief yesterday.
He thinks he could do with more recruits. There are
indications that the Punjab and the North-west Frontier have
reached the possible limit ; but Sir Michael O’Dwyer,
although he wanted to slack off, in the new crisis is prepared
to go on at the same pace. Officers are forthcoming both from
home and in the young officers that we are training. Any
number of recruits could be obtained. The Commander-in-
Chief was rather stiff about commissions. He said that the
demand for commissions was political. I pointed out to
him the difficulty of asking men to come into the Army
merely as sepoys, with no prospect of advance. We were
not making a similar request to any other part of the Empire.
He admitted the difficulty. He was willing to have officers’
training schools in India, provided that vacancies in the
schools were, in the first instance, allotted to men already in
the ranks. I have no objection. He does not approve of
an increase of bounty for recruiting, because he thinks that
people will hold back, thinking the bounty will get still larger.
The reason why he is able to send a telegram home offering
to send Indian divisions to Egypt and Mesopotamia to replace
all the British divisions is because the sick returns have so
greatly improved. He is quite willing to allow Indian princes
to raise troops of their own and officer themselves, with the
assistance of British officers to lead them in the field. He
would be willing to extend this principle to people who are
not actually native princes, but who are comparable in status.
He said the lead must come from the Viceroy.

Then followed Hill. He thinks we can send as much
wheat as they can ship. After the recent rains, he is quite

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April 15]

353

prepared to agree to send the two million tons which the
Home Government asked for, and although he thinks it
would necessitate the fixing of prices for wheat, and probably
for wheat substitutes — and this would be very difficult — he
is quite prepared to do this, too, up to another 500,000 tons,
if the Home Government want it.

This morning I have had the Adjutant-General to see me.
He talked of the difficulty of building depots in which to
put the troops, but agreed that this ought not to be the
limiting factor, and that both the Army works and the civil
works ought to assist them in building.

I forgot to say that Barnes thinks that something more
ought to be done to get men out of the commercial community,
although obviously the difficulty of compulsion for them,
when compulsion for their Indian fellows is not attempted,
is very great.

Hudson, the Adjutant-General, is quite willing to give
everybody a prospect of rising from the ranks. He does
not much like the Chief’s idea about princes.

Then I saw Holland, who satisfied me that he is doing
everything he can. He says his aim ought to be, after the
War, to make India self-supporting in five years, in which
period it can be done, but, unfortunately, there is no available
material and tools. We cannot smelt zinc, we cannot roll
copper, we cannot roll steel in this country. The Home
Government have just refused permission to put up a rolling
mill. He does not think he has anything new to shggest.
He is working every day, and all day, to increase output. He
is having the same struggle about inspecting and designing
staff with the War Department that we had in the Ministry
of Munitions at home. He is very keen on an appeal to
Indians generally, and told me that Malaviya had said that
he could not appeal to stop political agitation, because the
Southern Indian and the Mohammedan would not listen to
it ; but if counter Indian agitation, like Lord Sydenham’s,

AA

354

AN INDIAN DIARY

\A-pril 15

was stopped, he thought Indians in India would stop too.
Holland told me that Ghokall would have done it, but he was
a big enough man not to be misunderstood. But the great
point, in my opinion, is to get India behind you in this thing,
and I have been agitating and struggling for an all-India
conference. What I have suggested will be clear from the
letter I wrote to Chelmsford at Dehra Dun and the letter
which I am writing to him to-day. Hill is the opponent.
He wants a caucus to elaborate proposals and to lay them
before the Legislative Council. Chelmsford is not in agree-
ment with him, and I think I have won, but the whole thing
depends upon the speech that Chelmsford makes to them,
particularly as the conference will probably take place after
the suspension of specie payment.

It is a gloomy day. The whole fabric is spoiled by this
financial business and the way in which the Government
of India have dealt with it. Our report and all the work of
the winter seems to loom so small now in all these matters.
I therefore end up with a good story I heard last night.
When the Viceroy goes on tour it is the practice to allow
local officials to know what is likely to be required. The
Controller, therefore, sends out probable dinner menus, with
the suggestion that any alternative can be used if the things
suggested are not readily available. Whilst he was on tour
in Burma it was suggested that ox-tail soup should be provided
for him one day. Afterwards he received a bill for 500
rupees for the oxen that had had to be purchased to provide
him with the soup !

I forgot to mention that this afternoon I had an interview
with Vincent. He thinks that 200 officers can be spared
from the Government service, and I found him fully in accord
with the idea of an all-India conference, and anxious to do
something about temporary commissions. His one anxiety
was about Tilak. He said that Cleveland had told him that
he must swallow Tilak, because bigger men than he had had

SIMLA

April 15]

355

to swallow worse things than that ; and he went on to say
that he would follow it by a big amnesty, including Mahomet
Ali, but I do not suppose he will stick to his guns when the
question arises. However, to-day, for what it is worth, he
was full of beans.

Tuesday , April 16. This morning, Duke, Roberts, and I
went hammering away at the report — pruning, altering,
changing order, explaining more clearly, avoiding misunder-
standings, and so on. Every day it gets better, but this
work from ten in the morning till twelve at night, with also
some work before breakfast, is very, very wearing. Roberts
has been most useful, in fact I wish I had brought him in
at an earlier stage ; but I feel the awful responsibility, because
none of them notice anything until it is pointed out to them,
except in a few trifling instances ; and Duke, whose judgment
remains, as ever, sound, seems to contribute less and less.

The Viceroy was all the morning in session with his
Executive Council. They were discussing War contribution.
They all stayed to lunch and went on afterwards. In the
afternoon I was sent for, and invited to attend. The Viceroy
told me the decision about 400,000 men, 100 commissions,
entry for Indian Indian civil servants into the I.A.R.O.,
combing out of Europeans, and, instead of co-operation for
Indians which he had accepted from me at Dehra, an “ Our
Day ” celebration of the War crisis. These were absurd
and inadequate decisions ; but to my astonishment and
amazement, he said, as I came in : “ These are what we have
decided,” with an emphasis on “ decided ” — “ and what I
have asked you to come here for is in order, as you yourself
suggested, that you should ask questions, so that you should
thoroughly understand the situation.” This is exactly what
I had feared at Dehra — what I had told Maffey that I feared,
and what I had been assured was not the case. I should never
have come to Simla under these humiliating circumstances. I

AN INDIAN DIARY

356

[April 16

came to the conclusion, although I had not much time to
think, that they had decided that they would rather stand
on their own legs than have my assistance. I confined
myself to what the Viceroy confined me to ; I asked a few
questions, which had this effect : — the 400,000 became
500,000, a pretty considerable jump, showing the carelessness
with which they had come to their decisions, and I think
that they felt pretty much ashamed of their “ Our Day ”
suggestion. However, I determined that I would take no
share in the responsibility, and that I would say what I thought
of them in London.

In the evening we went back to the report. I heard that
Sinha had agreed to go to the Imperial Conference, but that
Bikaner had refused. He has asked Scindia. When I get
home I am going at once to lay down that future appointments
to the War Conference shall be by the Secretary of State, on
the recommendation of the Government of India. They
cannot choose men in this country.

Wednesday , April 1 7. On Wednesday we again worked on
the report. The financial crisis is better, and they will
weather it, I think.

I came to the conclusion that I could not criticise the
Viceroy’s schemes in London without informing him that I
was going to do so, because, in particular the newspapers,
at any. rate, had imagined that I was a party to the decisions.
I therefore wrote him a letter, telling him very clearly what
I thought of him.

Thursday , April 18. This morning the Viceroy came in
before breakfast and spent an hour by my bedside. He was
very indignant, or said he was, at my letter. He complained
that I had completely misunderstood the situation ; that
he had thought at Dehra that all I wanted to do was to under-
stand their decisions. As I had put in my letter at Dehra

[To face page 356

FOUR CARICATURES BY E. S. M.

SIMLA

April 1 8 ]

357

that I wished to join in their deliberations, in order that I
might understand their decisions, I told him that this was
quite wrong, and that I had told him that I would be in a
better position to defend them if I were a party to them. V
told him that he had published in the newspapers that I was
coming to take part in the conferences, and that I thought
I had been very badly treated. He assured me it was entirely
a misunderstanding. I told him that I had no choice but
to accept his explanation. He then went through the
decisions one by one, and explained that I was completely?
mistaken in thinking they were decisions ; they were going to'
meet again that very morning to discuss them. I told him
that I could not be responsible, and that if I had mis-
understood, it was he who had mislead me. He told me
that he resented very much my writing to him when
he would have been very glad to discuss the matter with
me. I told him that his words, which I had carefully
noted, could only have been interpreted as meaning that
I was not to discuss them with him, and that, therefore,
I had no choice but to put on record my views. He told me
that he had only meant to carry out my wishes. I told him
that I could only conclude they had come to the conclusion
that they did not want my assistance. He assured me that
this was not so. He began very much by blustering, always
with the same courtesy that characterises him. I took the
opportunity of telling him that the attitude of Colonial
Governor which he adopted towards a very weak Government
seemed to me to be wrong, and that he ought to lead them.
We parted the best of friends, and he ultimately went back
to his Executive Council. Much to my joy and satisfaction,
the Executive Council modified their alleged decisions, and
the proposals are now more or less satisfactory, although
Claude Hill has run away from his proposal to increase the
wheat supply. I have protested to the Viceroy, and I think
that will be met.

AN INDIAN DIARY

358

[April 18

I do not care in the least that they should still be in a position
to claim the credit for what is done. I have done my duty,
and everything now depends upon the way they handle their
'\Purbar. Letters come pouring in from Indians to me,
pledging themselves to assistance, but naturally pointing
out, what I think they have a right to do, that they want
commissions, and that they want the publication of our report.

In the morning I went through our alterations with Marris.
He showed signs of the most tremendous overwork. He
said that in ordinary circumstances he would have been
proud of the thanks which the Viceroy and I proposed to
offer to him, but that we had so altered the report that he was
ashamed of it ; he could not face the men whose opinion he
valued most in the world — Meston and Curtis. I did not
argue with him ; I merely asked him what his allegations
against the report were. He said that we had deliberately
suppressed the truth. I asked him if he would be kind
enough to suggest any amendments, and we spent the whole
morning on them. With the utmost patience I listened to
his complaints ; argued with him ; shifted him in some
respects, and agreed with alterations to meet him in others.
But his complaints were so ridiculously small. His points
merely amounted to the alterations of words, and I attributed
the whole of his outburst to overwork. Of course the strain
has been immense. I then dressed him down and spoke
quite straightly to him. I told him I had never met a man
with greater devotion to duty and greater industry ; I had
never met a man with a better natural style and a more real
command of language. But he failed, like everybody else
in India failed, from having no political instinct, of despising
political science, and I told him that I did not think he was
capable of making the best argument he could, or of intelligible
exposition ; that the I.C.S. had been so long accustomed to
state their conclusions without reasoning them. I therefore
told him that, whilst leaving him to do the drafting, I must

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April 1 8 ]

359

insist that I must be the judge of whether what I wanted to
say was brought out or whether what was said was intelligible.

I asked him to go through the report chapter by chapter, and
I challenged him to find a single argument which he wished^
to use that was not there in some form or other, provided
that it had been accepted as a true argument. I had inserted
words in the introduction to say that it was definitely not my
purpose to criticise individuals, classes, or communities ;
that I would not sit in judgment on my fellow men, nor would
I accept his judgment on matters that I had not investigated :
it was a report of what I believed, and not what he believed.
Straight talks of this kind do no harm, and he went away much
more cheerful ; and we spent the afternoon with Chelmsford
on the report, Chelmsford’s share, as usual, being meticulous.

I definitely fixed the day for going home as Monday next.

I had a letter from Nair agreeing to the proposals about a
joint session, a variant from what we had agreed, and a much
better arrangement, and as I have also had Basu’s agreement,
that is all right. One could not have better offers of help
than from Basu, Ramaswami Aiyar, Jinnah, and Tilak, but,
of course, these men here spurn them, because they are based
on the assumption that national wishes will be respected as
they are going to be in Ireland.

In the evening I went to dinner with some old Cliftonians
who had invited me to dine with them at the United Services
Club — a beautiful drive through Simla by moonlighj, and a
most excellent dinner. General Edwards was in the chair,
and my health was proposed by General Vaughan. Barstow
was there, and I sat next to him. He is a very decent fellow.
Edwards talked of our meeting at Calcutta, when he knew he
was being “ vetted ” for the position of Director-General
of the I.M.S. Kisch made a most excellent little speech.

I only recognised, as a contemporary of mine, one man there,
an officer called Vanderghugt, who was in School House. We
sent a telegram to Sir Douglas Haig, which included, at

360 AN INDIAN DIARY [Afrit 18

somebody’s brilliant suggestion, the school motto, “ Spiritus
intus alit.” Edwards could not read it or understand it ; the
Indian telegraphist will maul it ; and Haig will never realise
yfhat it is not the school motto of his time, or, indeed, of the
earlier part of mine.

The Viceroy came in to see me with a problem : was his
name or mine to appear first on the report ? He told me
that it was my scheme and my report ; that the reforms
would always be known as the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms,
but that it being in India, he felt he must sign first. What
an interesting problem, fraught with what consequences to
a great Empire, requiring our serious attention ! I told him
that it was too early yet to say that there would be any reforms
arising out of the report, that that depended upon the action
taken by him in India and by me at home. We had only
begun our difficulties. I might be out of office in a few
weeks ; he might have done some internment affair which
would upset the apple cart. I might find my colleagues
would not accept my suggestions. Well, he said he did not
care about the order ; I said I did not ; let us see what the
principle was. There was no doubt about it that the Viceroy
was under the orders of the Secretary of State ; there was no
doubt about it, either, that our relative precedence in India
concerned functions, shooting parties, railway stations, salutes,
dinners, lunches, and not to State documents ; that I was sorry
to say Jthat I could not permit him to address the Cabinet
except through me, nor could I address the Government of
which I was a member through him. He looked rather sorry
for himself, but agreed. As a matter of fact, I made up my
mind to reconsider the situation and see what could be done.

Friday, April 19. The whole of Friday was spent on the
report.

The financial situation continues to improve, and they will
soon have to consider a financial contribution to the War.

SIMLA

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361

I dined in the evening with Vincent, and was able to do a
little business with Marris after dinner. Vincent seemed to
be very happy and cock-a-hoop. He has, on the whole,
behaved very well, and has been the best member of the/
Council on the question of the War contributions. He lives
in a charming house. I was glad to see Donoughmore
again. He loathes Simla, and says that one lives one’s time
on the point of a hill, and that you cannot lie down anywhere
without the danger of rolling back to Kalka. The scenery
is, however, magnificent, and it is so jolly to see daffodils, lilac,
wisteria, pansies, banksia roses, but, oh, the rickshaws, I
hate them more and more.

Saturday, April 20. Marris has been much happier since
Thursday, and we practically finished the revision of the
report by Saturday night.

Lady Chelmsford arrived from Dehra Dun with her two
daughters, and we had a considerable party to dinner.

Before dinner I had a long talk with the Commander-in-
Chief. I think he feels the change from Robertson to Wilson
at the War Office very much ; he does not get the same
information, and he feels a litcle lonely. He presented me
with an excellent memorandum on the history of the Indian
Army. I wish I had got it sooner ; I might have persuaded
Chelmsford to include it in the report. It is a valuable
document.

I also saw Colonel Longhurst. I am so fond of Longhurst
in London that I wanted to bring him news of his brother.
He is a very nice fellow, and is shortly going to rejoin his
battalion. He gave me the first news I had heard of the
serious air-raid on St. Pancras station. He also interested
me by saying that military opinion in India was divided
between Robertson and Wilson.

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362

[April 2 1

Sunday , April 2 1 . After breakfast we finished the report.
We are all rather pleased with it. It seems to me to be well
and closely argued, and it is now, I hope, free from everything
ithat could offend anybody. I can at least say that it ought
not to be disregarded, and it has a principle. The main
principle, so far as I can see, is that instead of founding
the Indian Government on the confidence of the people of
England, we are gradually to found it on the confidence of the
people of India. We are beginning in the Province, main-
taining the Government of India as now, but subjected, I
am glad to think, to more criticism, and future progress will
depend upon the creation of an electorate. I do not see how
any reasonable man can find fault with the principles. There
is much room for improvement in the workmanship and the
proposals, but the report certainly cannot be disregarded.
It will be, however, completely out-of-date unless we proceed
with the schemes quickly. At the last moment we were able
to make substantial improvements in the order, and added a
new paragraph to the introduction which, I think, improves
it greatly.

We are all feeling rather happy, and I went off to say
good-bye to Mrs. Verney, at a lunch given to me by Colonel
Verney at his pretty little house in the garden here. I had,
strangely enough, never met Mrs. Verney, although Colonel
Verney has done so much for us. He has been an excellent
companion on many of our week-end trips. He is a keen
sportsman and extraordinarily good with the arrangements
he has to make, which have never once broken down. A
military secretaryship cannot be an easy job, but he is, I
suspect, possessed of a very good staff.

I forgot to record that this morning I made the suggestion
to the Viceroy that our two signatures should be attached to
the report side by side. It seems ridiculous, but it made him
much happier, and, after all, it is a unique occasion which
demands a unique form of signature. The report will be

April 2 1 ] SIMLA 363

signed, let us hope, to-morrow at one, and at three we leave.
We have now nothing more to do. Hurrah for home !

Just a few words of retrospect. It is good to be going
home, but six months of India must make one regret their
coming to an end. I love this country ; it is where I am
happiest. The circumstances are cheerful. We have got
an agreed report. There is no difference of opinion, except,
perhaps, on details, among my delegation. There is no
difference of opinion, I hope, in the Government of India.
We have kept India quiet for six critical months. When I
came out, moderates were rushing to join the Home Rule
League ; on leaving, the succession of moderates from the
Home Rule League is making marked headway, particularly
in the United Provinces — Mahmudabad, Chintamani, Sapru,
etc. Further than this, the War news seems a little better
in the last few days. I am glad to think that Chamberlain
is in the Cabinet, where, I think, he will be of real help to us.
As regards Chelmsford, I have had to record many criticisms
of him, but I, as I know only too well, am not easy to work
with. We have been associated day in and day out, in
circumstances of the most fearful and frightful fatigue, and
of almost unequalled responsibility, for nearly six months, and
I believe no two men could have quarrelled less. I believe
that to be entirely due to his personality, to his patience, to his
self-control, and to his receptiveness. He is also a gentleman,
if there ever was one. However, we should certainly have
clashed if he had been constructive, and perhaps quarrelled,
although I am painfully conscious of the shortcomings of
my proposals, and wish to goodness I could have had some
constructive assistance. The comfort of life has alone made
it possible to do the work. Secretaries and A.D.C.s relieve
one of all the trouble ; no worry about travelling ; no worry
about arrangements ; no worries about interviews. It is
a wonderful thing to be head of the machine in a country
like this, and the rebound to the mundane conditions of a

AN INDIAN DIARY

3 6 4

\April 2 1

private individual in England will be very great. It is
curious how every position has its penalties. In a subordinate
position the limitations imposed upon one by one’s superiors
hamper and confine ; in a supreme position the instrument
through which one has to work thwarts one’s purpose. The
Government of India is really not adequate. Goodness
knows how it can be made so. I am not at all sure that we
shall not have to reconsider Delhi and take some other place
like Dehra Dun. I have been convinced on the awful
penalties of the migration to the hills. If Dehra Dun were
the capital, one and a half hours would take one to Mussoorie,
and the two places might be almost one. Nasik would be even
better, where one might stop all the year round. But how
are we to leave another unfinished capital at Delhi ? How
can we undo the city that the King-Emperor founded ? Are
we still to spend our six millions on a mistaken capital ?
What can be said ? I must consider this more at home,
Then, too, in the future this report, the principles of the
report, are dead unless they are acted upon, unless they
animate the Government. Will they do anything when I have
gone ? Will they think about it again ? Do not they want
someone to drive them before they will move ? These are
the anxieties. Shall I be allowed to carry out the proposals ?
That is another anxiety. On the other hand, I have gone
through the winter feeling that I exercised a very great
influence with educated Indian opinion. Certainly I have
got out of them what nobody now in India could have got
out of them, but the question which I go away with is : Have
I done anything to establish the confidence of the officials, or
led them to agree that I have influence with the Indian ?
The events of the past week lead me very much to doubt it.
It is quite true that I have no business to stay in India a day
longer than I need ; it is quite true that they have first to
consider their position. If the Government, as it now stands,
loses its prestige, it has nothing else to rely on. But, after all,

SIMLA

April 1 1 ]

365

it is a little astonishing that it has never been suggested by a
soul that I should speak at this Durbar. I had assumed
that they would ask me to, and I had already made up my
mind that I could not, consistently with my duty, do so, but
that I could have written a short message for the Viceroy
to read. I have been working among them for six months,
and it does seem to me a little surprising that I should leave
the country without any message four or five days before this
great event in India’s history. Is it attributable to their
lack of perception of what is fitting or what might be expected,
or is it attributable to lack of confidence ? If it is the latter,
I have only myself to blame. I have pressed them very hard,
and I should not blame them if they were glad to get rid of
me. I am not sure, even now, that I shall not offer to Chelms-
ford six or seven lines of farewell, and ask him whether it
would be of assistance at the meeting. It will be interesting
to hear what he says. I could then have a shot at drafting, and
give it up if I felt I could say nothing worthy of the occasion.

The Barnes have a very nice house not far from Govern-
ment House, with beautiful views and quite a nice garden.
High up on the hill above them is Sir Sankaran Nair ; next
door to them is Peterhoff, where the Hills live. Peterhoff is
the oldest and the most beautiful of these residences. It
really is an awfully nice half-timbered house, with a glorious
garden and a beautiful panelled hall and dining-room. It
was Government House before Lord Dufferin’s time, and
Lady Dufferin comments in her diary upon the impossibility
of ever filling the new Government House. Since then Lady
Minto has added a new wing. Such is the growing luxury
of life in India that it is now incredible to think that Govern-
ment House could ever have lived in Peterhoff. I wonder
whether anybody will say in future how comic it was that
we should have said, as we do say now, how will it ever be
possible for a Viceroy to live in Government House in New
Delhi ?

AN INDIAN DIARY

366

[ April 2 1

In the evening Maffey came to see me. I talked to him
about the very difficult position that I thought I was in through
leaving India just before the Durbar. I offered to write a
letter. He objected, first on the ground that they were
asking for a message from the King, which ought to be the
only message, and, secondly, because it was the Viceroy’s own
show, and nobody else ought to intervene. Just as I thought.
After a long talk, Chelmsford came in in a very cheerful
frame of mind and much pleased with my presents to his
daughters. He asked me to send him a photograph for
himself and a large one to hang in Viceregal Lodge.

Then we all went down to dinner. I had asked that a
dinner party might be given to the members of his Council
and Grant, to meet my delegation and to say good-bye. We
had a very pleasant evening.

Monday , April 22. I was sent for by Chelmsford. I
found three copies of the report spread on his table, and Lady
Chelmsford in Red Cross uniform standing by him, and
Maffey, tall and silent, next to her. There was one copy for
the Cabinet, and two bound in blue leather, one for him and
one for me. He had already signed all three. I signed, and
we shook hands. I wondered whether he was still thinking
of the order of the signatures and had determined to sign first.

Booth Tucker, the head of the Salvation Army, came to
see me. He was strangely dressed in khaki trousers, white
socks, black leather slippers, a red tunic, and a white pugaree
with a red band across it, with the words “ Muhkti Fanj ” on
it. It is a strange life for a man who has been in the I.C.S.
He talked to me once again on the criminal tribes. He
told me that he had been lucky in a continuity of policy
in the United Provinces, despite changes in the Lieutenant-
Governors, but there was no harmony between the Punjab
and the U.P. Criminal tribes wander all over India ; they
require a separate organisation to deal with them, because

SIMLA

April 22]

367

they bribe the subordinate police to testify that individuals
are in their homes during raids. They have ample funds,
because in the U.P. in one year 34 lakhs were stolen by them,
of which only four lakhs were recovered. He showed me
some silk cocoons grown by the criminal tribes reformed by
him ; he pointed out that 4,000 criminals in Madras made
60,000 rupees honestly in one year. They must steal or
starve, unless looked after, and they prefer to steal. I do
not wonder that they do. But, just like the fox at home that
does not raid the pheasants while it has its cubs, so if they
are leniently dealt with in a State or a Province, they go over
the borders to maraud. He wants a special secretary
appointed in the Home Department, and an annual conference
to see that the excellent law is uniformly and steadfastly
administered. He told me that in Madras, when Harold
Stuart was there, they did better work among criminal tribes
than in any other Province. Now the Madras Government
had said that they had too much to do to bother about them,
and each Collector must do what he could. By the by, I
heard only yesterday that Pentland had said that he would
disallow a resolution which was to be moved in the Legislative
Council on the subject of the migration to Ooty, because it
was not in the public interest. How can one expect the
Morley-Minto reforms to work well in this sort of way ? It
shows how necessary instructions to Governors are. While
he was talking about silk, I reminded him of Lefroy’s slashing
report on the Salvation Army’s work. He said he did not
mind in the least. He told me that Lefroy had no knowledge
of the silk industry from a commercial point of view ; that
the Government of India ought to have employed MacNamara,
who has been so successful in Kashmir, where they make a net
profit of 25 lakhs out of their silk. They distribute eggs free
to 50,000 families ; they receive from them 36,000 maunds
of silk at 15 rupees a maund — small profits, a pound a year,
but, nevertheless, enough in the hideous poverty of the

AN INDIAN DIARY

368

[ April 22

country. He said that silk ought not to be left to the Director
of Agriculture, where it is a by-product, but it ought to be
specially dealt with. He gave instances of Lefroy’s lack of
knowledge ; that he had used the expression “ raw silk ”
to include both the waste and the cocoon ; that he had given
statistics of the export from Bombay and Sind without realising
that all that left Bombay and Karachi came from Kashmir.
As usual, I suppose the wrong man was selected without a
right appreciation of the circumstances. He tells me that
every Director of Agriculture says that mulberry trees will not
grow in the plains. He knews of a forest in the Punjab
which was intended for sisal, but where mulberry trees only
had come up. It can be grown in the plains as it is grown
in Japan, with great care, on the best ground. How valuable
it would be to meet the land revenue if it was done in British
India proper. But when I see rickshaws and coolies, showing
that the water power has never been used, how neglectful
we have been of the industrial improvement of India ! Every
village in Norway has its electric light. I twitted him about
his joining Sydenham’s organisation and attacking the Viceroy
and myself.

He said that he had not ; all that he had done
was to say something about the old woman that sits on the
roof of Government House and tells the enemy aeroplanes
where to drop their bombs. By the by, Mrs. Besant is going
to issye a telegram asking Indians to help in the War. It is
a clever document which has roused the fury of the Services,
because it uses the Prime Minister’s words about Ireland.
Why should not they ? She wants to get interned, and if
she fails to accomplish this, she is going downhill so fast
that she will disappear. But she is too clever for them, and
they are too stupid to avoid her game. They are already
beginning to consider where they shall deport her to, if they
took power to deport under the Defence of India Act. Horni-
man is a different story, but if they touch Mrs. Besant, they

April 22 ] SIMLA 369

are doing a very foolish thing. Her influence goes day by
day, and nothing can save her but their action.

Afterwards Maffey came in, and brought a letter from
Sir Claude Hill to the Viceroy, saying that Sir Dorab Tata
had said that Indians would expect me to be at the Durbar,
and that at least a letter would be necessary from me. He
said that if I wanted to write a letter, the Viceroy would be
glad of it, but he thought it would be better if he was authorised
to give a message from me in his speech. I told him that
the matter was one of considerable difficulty, which could
only have been really met if I had remained for the Durbar.
If I was absent, it could only be deduced that I had left India,
which would give away my departure, which ought to remain
secret. If a letter was read, it would do it still more. I
thought a letter would not meet the purpose, but I would
draft him a message. We then had a very frank talk, Maffey
and I. We went over Chelmsford’s good qualities — his recep-
tivity, his patience, his lack of prejudice, his loyalty ; but also
his refusal to give a lead and his lack of constructive ability are
very obvious. I begged Maffey to get him to make a speech
this time. As I have said before, Indians can be swept off their
legs by speeches. They never hear them. But the trouble
is that they are holding a Durbar without anybody who has
ever made a speech. They all read documents, and read
them without troubling to learn them first. The result is
that the documents are merely departmental hashes, often
revised, reviewed and cut about by the Council. You cannot
stir a crowd by this sort of thing. Maffey was in agreement
with me. I told Maffey that I was going to write a letter to
the Viceroy from Aden, telling him what I thought remained
to be done in India, and we went through some of the points.
I then wrote to the Viceroy, saying that I did not intend to
draft a message, but the sort of thing I wanted to say was this —
that having carried the work with which we had been jointly
entrusted as far as it could be carried in India, he and I felt

B6

370

AN INDIAN DIARY

[April 22

it to be my duty to return to England, to discharge my
responsibilities as a Minister and Secretary of State, and to
lay our proposals before the Cabinet without delay. As the
papers had announced, I had shared in the preliminary
deliberations, and was a party to his appeal. I felt confident
that India would do her utmost, united and steadfast, for the
Empire and her own future. I pointed out to him that such
an announcement would show :

1. My reasons for going.

2 . That we were going on with the report and it was not
to be allowed to slumber.

3. That I had helped in deciding on War policy.

I wonder what he will really say. I am sure they have made
a blunder, but that is the end of that !

We lunched together, and, after lunch, the Viceroy and I
sat and talked till three o’clock. We came to the conclusion
that Sly should be the next member of the Viceroy’s Council ;
that Robertson should succeed O’Dwyer, and Cleveland
should succeed Robertson ; that Willingdon should go to
Madras, and Hopwood to Bombay. I wonder how much
of this will be done ? I told him earnestly that he had got
to govern India in the next few months not as if the report
was already carried out, but as a country for which he wished
the report to be carried out ; that it was a matter of some
difficulty, and that he should take no action against anybody
unless he had done his best first by persuasion. I urged him
to lead and not to follow, and so on. He took it all very
well, and in his turn urged patience — an excellent piece of
advice. I told him that I would try and get hold of Geoffrey
Dawson, Chirol, Hewitt ; I would see Sydenham, but I
thought it was impossible ; of course I would see Curtis.

1 made him promise not to publish the report until he had
seen the newspaper editors. He told me he was going to
send a private copy to each of the Governors and Lieutenant-
Governors and to all his Council. He also told me that the

SIMLA

37i

April 22]

Amir had expressed his willingness to consider his moving
against the Bolsheviks if a hint were given him by the Govern-
ment of India. He would not even allow this story to be
sent home, despite the military department, because it was
against his policy.

Then Lady Chelmsford, Duke, Chelmsford, and I walked
down the steep hill to Summer Hill station, and we left at
half-past three. The whole of the staff and Mrs. Maffey
were on the platform to see us off ; there were all the members
of the Council and Lady Barnes, Sankaran Nair, a solitary
figure, with his head in the air and his tie creeping over his
collar ; Sir William Vincent very jubilant, but very distressed
that I was not going to be at the Durbar, and blaming himself
for never having suggested it ; hoping I had written a strong
letter, and very distressed when I told him that the Viceroy
would not have one. I cannot get him to talk about the
report, and I fear all the trouble I have taken will not mean
his assent. He has shown himself at his best in arguing
with the Commander-in-Chief and his colleagues about the
response to the Prime Minister’s telegram, and in the Durbar
business altogether ; but I am not sure what is behind it.
The old Commander-in-Chief, bless him, was also there,
very cheerful, and they were a happy crowd. Even Chelms-
ford looked happy, and Lowndes less woebegone than usual.
As the trolley left, the band, at Verney’s suggestion, but
partly to show its devotion to Parsons, played what somebody
fortunately told me was “ Auld Lang Syne.”

Then four hours down the hill on the trolley, winding in
and out, varied only by a quarter of an hour for tea half-way
down. The line is 56 miles long, and there are 100 tunnels.
The scenery is much more attractive going down than up.
We arrived at Kalka just as it was getting dark, and it was too
misty and cloudy over the plains to get a really good view.

[ April 23

XV

SIMLA TO LONDON

Tuesday , April 23. Here we are, on the train. It is
rather remarkable what a happy party we have been, and it
says a great deal for the good temper of my colleagues. Our
friendship has never been disturbed, and it has been a very
happy family. We left Kalka at 7.30 on Monday night,
and picked up Holland-Hibbert at 1.50 this morning at Delhi.
We are now travelling through Rajputana ; it is fiercely hot,
but they all tell me the season is three weeks late, and it is
nothing like as hot as they expected. It certainly was very
hot last night. Marris is the only one of us that nothing can
make look cheerful.

Saturday, April 27 (Indian Ocean). I spent most of my
time on the journey down from Simla in reading, writing
farewell letters, and sweating. At one time the temperature
in my saloon was no, but my chief trouble was my growing
insomnia. I do not think I have had a good night’s rest
during the time I have been in India, and during the two
nights on the train I hardly slept half an hour. This did not
matter/when I had work to do ; I could always find something
to read ; but I am sick of books, and the second night on the
train, in particular, was just hell, in the slowness with which
it passed.

We reached Bombay at 8.30 on Wednesday morning, and
were met at the station by Carmichael, the Secretary to the
Government, old Shaperji Broacha, Sasoon David, and
“ Uncle Tom ” Chaubal. Rahimtoolah, for some reason
or other, was not there. No one, to look at Broacha, would
have thought that he had lost 25 lakhs by speculating in

372

April 27] SIMLA TO LONDON 373

cotton, and I expect David had also been pinched a bit ; but
there they stood cheerfully. The head of the police, Vincent,
was also there. We drove to the Yacht Club, where we had
breakfast, joined by the Admiral.

After breakfast Stanley Reed came to see me. He told
me that Nair had been down to Bombay, and described our
scheme as very satisfactory in almost every detail. He told
me that Rahimtoolah had told him that the financial proposals,
which had already been communicated to the local govern-
ments, pretended to set out to give autonomy to the Provinces,
but made them appeal on all sorts of questions for the sanction
of the central government. I read him from the sacred text
the paragraph dealing with taxation and borrowing, and he
confessed that Rahimtoolah’s allegations were completely
unfounded. I described to him the whole scheme ; he said
we had accomplished a great deal, and I think we can rely
upon his support and upon his being a good influence with
Willingdon. They are sending up quite a good team to the
conference at Delhi. They are not sending Tilak, but they
are sending Sandavakar and Ghandi. Ghandi had written
to Chelmsford to announce his intention of going to prison
unless Mohamed Ali and Shaukat Ali are released. With
regard to Tilak, if I were the Viceroy I would have had him
at Delhi at all costs. He is at the moment probably the most
powerful man in India, and he has it in his power, if he chooses,
to help materially in War effort. If, on the other hand, he
attached conditions of a political kind to his offers of help,
as, indeed, he would, at such a conference things would bo
said to him which would for ever destroy his influence in
India, at least, so I think. If he is not there, it will always
be said that we refused to select the most powerful people.
Tilak is already saying that in his speeches, and it would have
completely taken the wind out of his sails if he had been
invited as one of the leaders of Indian opinion. Of course
one can always say : “ No help from such a source,” but

374

AN INDIAN DIARY

[ April 27

still, there it is. I read a speech of Tilak’s on board ship,
and it is quite obvious that he will not accept our report
proposals. This seems to me all to the good : he is the leader
of the opposition.

Reed and I had a great deal of talk about the necessity of
political instinct and drama in connection with the Durbar,
and I found that he agreed with much of my views on this
subject which I have expressed before.

At twelve o’clock precisely we left Bombay (24th) on board
the R.I.M., now H.M.S. Dujferin. I wonder if I shall ever
see the country again ! Verney handed me a farewell letter
from Chelmsford. It is cordial enough ; it describes me as
impulsive and imaginative, which is certainly not my reputa-
tion at home, and he describes himself as prosaic and cautious.
Prosaic, yes ; cautious, only because he is willing to espouse
the resisting forces of his Government. He beseeches me
to have patience, which is, as I have already confessed, good
advice.

However, I am not going to describe, or attempt to describe,
this journey. I have little or no work to do. The climate,
although not hot, is depressing, and it is difficult to get any
energy. The boredom is simply indescribable ; there is
nothing whatever in the world to do. It was different
coming out, because we had work, and had to get it done, and
there were also the passengers. In this ship there is my
own team ; there is Sir Archdale Earle, Mr. Justice Rowlatt,
Admiral Wake, and Inigo Freeman-Thomas.

I am sleeping much better on board ship, but how slowly
the time goes ! It is incredible to believe that we have only
been three days on the ship. We shall get to Aden, unless
we have an accident, the day after to-morrow, where we shall
hear news, I hope, both from India and England, and learn
more of what the future has in store for us in the way of
arrangements for getting home.

The sea is dead calm ; it is not very hot ; there is no wind.

SIMLA TO LONDON

April 27]

375

I think we have seen two ships since we left Bombay, and
there is nothing to see over the side except perpetual swarms
of flying fishes, skimming the water, streaking it, and some-
times going quite a long distance in the air, but, so far as I
have been able to see, never very high.

Earle asked to see the report, and he has been sleeping over
it ever since. Basu is also reading the report, and he cannot
read two pages without sleeping. When I am arguing in
favour of immediate publication, which is my great difficulty
now, I shall be able to point to its pacifying effect on an Indian
politician and a distinguished civil servant. Basu has read
the whole of the first part, and is very pleased with it.

Sunday , April 28. At Aden, which we reached at five
o’clock on Monday afternoon (April 29), we received the
mail, from which I gather that food restrictions in England
are not so bad as they sounded. My letters were full of
accounts of operations and illnesses, but mails are wonderfully
cheering things now that one is going home. The War news
seemed good. Islington writes in great trepidation about
the designs of the Foreign Office to take possession of the
India Office. Of course it is a great nuisance to turn out of
anywhere, but I cannot help thinking that we ought not to
resist this. I can only hope it is settled by the time I get
home, if I am to resume my office. The silence of the Prime
Minister and the absence of all communications from my
colleagues makes me very much doubt what is going to'happen.
A telegram from India announced that the King did send a
message to the Delhi Durbar, and that Patiala has been chosen
for the Imperial Conference. My advice on this subject has
therefore been completely disregarded, and one of my first
official acts when I get home will be to deprive the Government
of India of the right of nominating representatives for the
conference. It will have to be done by the Secretary of
State in future, for they are not competent to do so.

AN INDIAN DIARY

376

[April 28

Most of us went to dine on shore at Aden with General
Stewart. Aden seems quite happy. They have got some
aeroplanes now with which they keep the Turks very busy.
They seem, however, to have many casualties, and the aero-
planes would appear to me to take too big risks by flying too
low. Anyhow, the Turks have great success in hitting them
with rifles. They have no anti-aircraft guns, only ordinary
guns used for this purpose, and, at present, no aeroplanes of
their own, otherwise Aden would be practically uninhabitable.
Said Pasha still behaves like the perfect gentleman he is. On
one occasion the Turks shot down an aeroplane, and Said
Pasha wrote in to say that the two occupants had arrived on
the ground burned to death ; that he regretted very much
he had not the means to give them a Christian burial, but he
had buried them with military honours, and that he would be
glad either to send their bodies into Aden or to mark their
tombs with any stone or inscription that the Resident chose
to send.

Tuesday , April 30. We left Aden at dawn this morning,
almost 24 hours before we expected. We had coaled.
Our steering gear had gone wrong and was still a little wobbly,
and Warren proposed to go at 15^ knots all the rest of the
way, because this does not put such a tax on his compass ;
the vibration is less. So, back to the weary round of novels,
patience., picquet, “ Slippery Jane,” and hurried meals, the
cooking being excellent, beginning with a strange naval
grace — “ For what we are about to receive, thank God.”

Thursday , May 2. Earle has read the report ; he thinks
that it has been amended to suit his views especially, and he
is going to support it.

The War news continues better. I have been in a state of
ebullient optimism about the War corresponding with my
depression about India and myself, and I have a sort of feeling

SIMLA TO LONDON

377

May 2]

that in the next week or two the War will be over. As soon
as the Germans are convinced that their offensive can achieve
nothing more, it cannot be scientific or right or like the
Germans to wait, as each month sees them more and more out-
numbered ; but they may try their last remaining card, an
attack on England.

This morning exciting news has come. There is an
answer to my telegram from the R.N.O. at Port Said, instruct-
ing the captain of this ship to stop at Suez and not to enter
the canal. We are to go up the canal on a canal yacht,
apparently to save expense. There follows, I believe, a very
long answer to my telegram, but it has arrived so corrupt as
to be absolutely undecipherable. Therefore, there is still no
news. There is also a strange telegram from Wingate,
saying that he is sending Alexander to meet us at Suez, but,
to my utter astonishment, he goes on to say that he cannot
come to see me as he is too busy : Allenby will tell me all the
news from Palestine. What on earth is Allenby doing in
Egypt ? Is he going home.

It may save time if I spend a few minutes in just summing
up now some of the principal actors in this drama. I begin
with Donoughmore — a wholly likeable fellow, very broad-
minded and extraordinarily good-tempered ; easily prejudiced
and then obstinate, but with undampable spirits and very
easygoing. He has never raised any difficulty about any
point. I imagine he will be more useful to us afterwards
than he has been during the trip ; and certainly always the
best of travelling companions.

Duke, universally popular, as sound as he is slow in his
judgment ; generous instinct ; conspicuous loyalty ; great
caution ; no obvious originality, although I think he invented
“ dyarchy.” He is a strange man. To look at him, with
his big, light-blue eyes, firm lips, fierce frown, sulky expres-
sion, you would think he was universally bad-tempered and
forbidding. He has a habit of staring hard, with a look of

378 AN INDIAN DIARY [May 2

wonder and disapproval, but I think it is all manner : I hope
so, at any rate.

Roberts, extraordinarily useful on details ; the most
conscientious of men, with a streak of suspicious obstinacy ;
great industry, never willingly letting a point go ; as good as
gold ; full of principles and maxims ; courageous, but
sometimes hysterical. He has completely brought the Govern-
ment of India to his side, and, although very detailed and
niggardly in his mind, he has been a tower of strength to us.

Seton has really good brains, but a certain raggedness of
mind which I think may stand in his way ; but he is a very
likeable fellow.

Halliday has been kindness itself, never losing an oppor-
tunity of being useful ; considerate in the extreme ; as like-
able as it is possible to be ; with the courage of a lion, un-
daunted by threatening death and the blight of all his hopes
by ill-health. I hope I shall see much of him, and I shall
never forget what he has been to me personally during these
months.

Basu, wily, cunning, indirect, obstinate, a good fighter,
a grateful fellow, a gentleman, with plenty of sporting instinct,
a thoroughly good investment.

Kisch grows on one. With a thirst for information, often
wrong-headed, often prejudiced, he is, nevertheless, a good
fellow, with a consummate knowledge of many subjects, but
little ability for drafting, and no tact. He has limitations
which do not spoil the good points, which one learns to
appreciate more and more, and he is certainly forgiving and
tolerant.

Of course neither Kisch nor Parsons have the one ingredient
which makes a really first-class private secretary. I know
that when I was a private secretary I realised that not only
had you to do what you were told to do, which in my case
was often very little, but you had constantly to be thinking
whether you could ease your chief’s work or add to his pleasure

SIMLA TO LONDON

May a]

379

in moments of recreation by inventing amusements, methods
of greasing the wheels, and so forth. I failed because my
ideas were always better than my methods of carrying them
out. I suppose Drummond was the best private secretary
I have ever known, and, of course, my chief was a much older
man than myself, whom I had never known except as a private
secretary, and for whom I had hero worship. Therefore I
cannot apply the same standards to my people ; but although
neither of them has ever made any difficulty in doing what I
have asked ; although neither of them could have been
excelled in their devotion and conscientiousness, this
Drummond part of the business has never been applied.

Parsons is a very strange fellow — enormously likeable and
affectionate, shy, with all the faults of very dark people. I
could not have wanted anything better than he has given me,
except what we have often talked about together — his lack
of social conscientiousness. However, I do not believe I
could have existed without him.

Tuesday , May 7. We are on the sea again, and, as I have
nothing to do, I may as well take steps to finish the story of
this great adventure in the same haphazard fashion in which I
have carried it through to this point. I am too indolent to
try and do it well, too indolent even to make it connect with
what I have written before.

We got to Suez at dawn on Saturday, May 4. ^Ve had
been told, contrary to expectations, that we were to save
money, and, what is to us just as valuable, time, by leaving
the ship at Suez. The Dujferiti could not have gone through
the canal at more than five knots per hour, and we should not
have reached Port Said until Sunday morning. The Canal
Company had placed their yacht at my disposal, and we were
to embark upon this. Captain Betts, who had been the
R.N.O. at Port Said and was now the R.N.O. to the whole
canal, met us at Suez. I told him that I was going to take

AN INDIAN DIARY

380

[May 7

twelve people to Port Said, leaving the other four to await
orders at Suez, because I was still determined to take three
more if I could.

We went up the canal at 18 knots an hour. The banks
were too high to see much. It was a very pleasant voyage,
and quite cool, indeed, for parts of the voyage there were heavy
thunderstorms. It is curious that it is supposed rarely to
rain in Egypt, and that all three days I have spent there it
rained. We passed the place where the Turks crossed the
canal ; passed the disused defences — disused when Kitchener
visited Egypt last and said : “I thought the troops were
protecting the canal ; the canal seems to be protecting the
troops ” ; and ordered the defences to be moved into the
desert. Now they are only used as bases for sweeping
channels, as it were, across the desert, to see that nobody
comes to try and lay mines in the canal. One ship was mined
in the Bitter Lakes.

We got to Ismailia at half-past twelve, and were met by
the Admiral. I told him that I proposed to take twelve
passengers unless he told me that the presence of three extra
would jeopardise the safety of the ship. Of course he could
not say this, and it transpired that all the difficulty is due to
the Admiral at Malta.

We lunched at Ismailia with the director of the Canal
Company, the Comte de Serrionne, four of us — Kisch,
Parsons, Halliday, and Franey — lunching on the Grafton.
Serrionne was a charming old boy, and gave us an excelleht
lunch. My French had to be trotted out again, and was
even worse than ever. We were shown the room in which
Lesseps lived — absolutely unaltered, the furniture remaining
as it was. The gardens at Ismalia are quite lovely ; they have
some most beautifully coloured bougainvillia. There was a
Frenchwoman there who had arrived from France two days
before. She described the bombardment of Paris. There
is a danger zone right across Paris ; a bombardment every

May 7] SIMLA TO LONDON 381

twenty minutes ; nobody minded. Better without it, yes,
but as it was there, what did it matter ? She had come on a
French vessel because all British vessels refused to take her,
and had had no adventure except a four days’ sojourn at
Malta.

We arrived on board the Liverpool at five o’clock on
Saturday evening, May 4. Jackson’s message that three
more passengers were to arrive had not come, but I found the
officers of the Liverpool quite delightful, acting as real friendly
hosts. They did not mind overcrowding ; it was not they,
the only people who had the right to grumble, who grumbled ;
and they soon stowed our huge mass of luggage and all our
passengers away. Of course I am in the cream of comfort
in the captain’s cabin, with my bath opposite me. Donough-
more and Basu both have cabins of their own ; Roberts,
Duke, and Rowlatt are in the captain’s dining-room in swing-
ing beds ; and the rest are in the sick bay, nobody complain-
ing, as usual.

I had a telegram from Allenby saying : Could he see me
at ten o’clock on Sunday morning ? Of course I said “ Yes,”
and abandoned all hope of going to sea that night. The
mystery deepens. We are going to take no less than 61 hours
in going across, arriving at Taranto, if we arrive at all, on
Wednesday morning.

I have had a most cheerful letter from my adlati , approving
of the report, but strangely limited to British India, because
they say they were not consulted about the Chiefs. This
is Donoughmore and Roberts, not Duke and Basu. It does
not much matter.

I have also had a telegram from Chelmsford, at last, giving
an account of the meeting at Delhi. As I predicted, the
exclusion of Tilak, who is, after all, the biggest leader in
India at the moment, had a bad effect, and unanimity had
been difficult. They had prohibited all controversial motions
and resolutions. Why could not they let them have their

AN INDIAN DIARY

382

[May 7

say and attempt to get a real meeting ? They could always
have put up someone to answer any awkward question.
However, I must wait, and suspend my judgment until I see
the full account of the meeting.

We started off at six o’clock in the evening (May 5) without
escort. It was rough, and the dawn broke on a sea probably
too rough for submarines to operate in without breaking water.
Everybody except Rowlatt, Marris, Parsons, and myself was
seasick. I have eaten largely and kept as quiet as I could.
The sea calmed down in the afternoon, and we passed to the
west of Crete about midnight (6th). The presence of all
the crews at the guns, the look-out of 20 people watching
hard all day is most thrilling ; but nobody seems to be
anxious except myself.

We heard news last night of a submarine off Crete ; we
heard news of a submarine at nine o’clock yesterday morning
right where we should be at ten o’clock this morning (May 7);
but we have heard news this morning that at six o’clock last
night that submarine was going west. Safety seems to lie
in the speed of the ship, which is, however, only 19 knots ;
zigzagging ; and that the submarines are lying nearer the
ports ; but to-day will be the most anxious, as we are right
in the path of the submarines going in and out of the Adriatic
Gulf, and to-morrow morning, when we shall pass them all
lying at the mouth of the Gulf of Taranto.

Saturday , May 1 1 (on train from Paris to Boulogne). The
time has now come when I must bring this series of notes
to an end. The work of doing it has not been uninteresting.
I am so conscious of its reflecting often contradictory moods
of days and hours that I have never had the courage to read
it, but it has, at any rate, served the purpose of keeping a
record of events and opinions as they were formed, and of
avoiding a series of letter-writing. I have been blessed with
a shorthand writer who has made the work as easy as possible,

May ii] SIMLA TO LONDON 383

and it has rarely occupied me more than an average half an

hour at the most a dav.

¥

I have wished more than I can say that I had attempted
something of this kind throughout the days that I have lived
— the Budget of 1909 ; the crisis of the War ; the crisis of
conscription ; Morley’s resignation ; negotiations on Home
Rule ; and, above all, the great crisis which lead to the
formation of the present Ministry. I have known more of
these things than almost any living man. I think during the
last five years of Asquith’s reign I knew him more intimately
than anybody else, and I wish I could have put it all down in
the same way that I have put down the uninteresting material
of this journey to India. Perhaps one day I shall trust my
memory and a few scattered notes to it, but it will never be
the same thing, nor do I suppose that the future is likely to
be so interesting from my point of view as the past.

The End

INDEX

A

A and B subjects, consideration of, by
conference of Government and dele-
gation, 180 et seq. t 186-187 ; com-
mittee to consider, 218, 224, 229,
260 ; new idea concerning, 223-
224 ; E.S.M.’s idea to get rid of A
subjects, 229 ; suggestions regarding
division of responsibility for, 277 ;
policy on, compared with despatch
of 1916, 309-310 ; agreement on
with Government of India, 323 ;
drafting of list, 335, 336 ; other
references, 1, 7, 13, 62, 102, 107, 141,
143, 21 1, 217.

A.G.G.’s, desire for abolition of, 21, 23,
25, 26 ; Watson against abolition of,
281.

Achariyar of Salem, career and views
of, on development of Government
of India, 121-122.

Achariyar, Deskika, caste story told
by, 131

Achariyar, Rajagopala, no.

Aden, E.S.M. at, 375-376.

Administrative Committees, 229.

Aellen, head of the Roman Catholic
Church, Madras, 115.

Afghanistan, Amir of, British interests
of, 20, 371

Aga Khan, the, 152.

Agents to the Governor- General, see
under A.G.G.’s.

Agitation, meeting on, and E.S.M.’s
speech at, 2 15-2 17, 220.

Agra, Zemindars of, desire for landlord
Raj, 41.

Ahirs, the, deputation from, 48.

Ahmad, on his sect and his scheme,
35-36 ; and the Punjab government,
39 .

Ahmadiyyah, the, deputation from,
35 ; moderation of demands by, 35,
36 .

Ainscough, trade commissioner,
E.S.M.’s talk with, 325-326.

CC

Aitchison’s Treaties, read by Alwar
245-246.

Aiyangar, Srimivasa, Advocate-
General, Madras, on the Curtis and
Congress Moslem League schemes
127.

Aiyar, Ramaswami, cleverness of, 123 ;
on racial feeling and anti-Brahman-
ism, 123, 128 ; on difficulty of

approach to Indian officials, 135 ;
becomes Secretary of Congress,
177 ; approves new scheme, 177,
179, 274 ; offers of help from, 359.

Aiyar, Sivaswami, relations between
Lord Pentland and, 125.

Aiyar, Subrahmanya, asks President
Wilson to interfere for Home Rule,
123-124.

Ajab Khan, the Honourable, interview
with on soldiers, 63-64.

Ali, Mohamed, internment of, and
agitation regarding, 4, 18, 52, 73, 93,
140, 142-143, 277, 339, 355 ; Cleve-
land’s friendship with, 192-193.

Ali, Shankat, internment of, 52, 140,
142-143.

Allenby, General, E.S.M, sees at Port
Said, 377, 381.

All-India Conference for War, con-
tributions suggested, 354.

All-India Conference of Indian
Christians, folly of communal
representation for, 100. •

All Lndia Hindu Sabha, deputation
from, 67-68.

All-India Landholders, deputation
from, desiring official communal
representation, 99.

All-India Mohammedan deputation
address refused at Delhi, 73.

All-India Moslem Defence Association,
formation of, 50-51.

All-India Moslem League, Provincial
Branch of, deputation from, 44-45.

All-India Orthodox Hindus, deputation
from, desiring official communal
representation, 99.

385

INDEX

386

Allnut t, Canon, 98.

Alwar, E.S.M. shoots in, 290 et seq.

Alwar, Maharaja of, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E.,
welcomes Montagu at Bombay, 2 ;
contempt of Chelmsford's confer-
ence, 20 ; suggestions of, for com-
position of a Council, 20-2 1 ; states-
manship of, 22 ; on requirements
and grievances of Native States,
22-23 ; E.S.M. talks with, 29 ;
on reasons for not wearing his
Orders, 195-196 ; desires postpone-
ment of deputation from Princes,
230, 231 ; objects to official termin-
ology, 236-237 ; intelligence of,
245 ; on the position of Native
States, 245 ; belief of in future of
Besant programme, 281 ; E.S.M.,
the guest of, 290 et seq. ; tiger hunts
arranged by, 293 et seq. ; book of,
on Native States, 293 ; interesting
conversation of, 293-294.

Amin, Muhammad, interview with,
161.

Amir, the, see under Afghanistan.

Anarchists, Indian, the real social
democrats, 273.

Andhras, the, delegation from, favour
a Telugu Province, 12 1 ; inclusion
of Brahmans in, 122.

Andrews, attack on C.I.D. and Cleve-
land by, 327.

Anglo-Indian Association, Madras
Government attitude to civil
servants in, 70 ; deputation from,
79, 81.

Apollo Bunder, the, Montagu welcomed
at, 3.

Arms Act, 144.

Asquith, H. H., 10, 383.

Attorney-General, question of office,
105.

August 20, announcement of, 136, 323.

Avargal, Abraham Panditar, strange
history of, 115.

Aziz-ud-din, no.

B

Baden-Powell organisation of Boy
Scouts refuses to accept Indians,
95 - 96 , 97 -

Bahadur, Girija Nath Ray, 92.
Balfour, A. J., Zionist declaration by,
18 ; other references, 73, 96.
Baluchistan, Dobbs to administer, 64.

Bambahadur, E.S.M. shoots with in
Kheri, 252, 259, 260-261.

" Bande Mataram,” sung at Basu’s
lunch, 82, 273.

Banner jea, Gooroodas, 90.

Banner jea, Surendrenath, welcomes
Montagu, 2 ; address by and inter-
view with, 56, 57 ; at Basu’s lunch,
81 ; heads Indian Association inter-
view, 83 ; desires power over
Budget, 274, 276, and advisory

board for internees, 274 et seq.,
287 ; on his support of Mrs. Besant,
336 .

Bareilly, E.S.M. at, 251.

Bari, 241.

Baring, E. B., 191, 204.

Barnes, Lady, 371.

Barnes, Sir George, on raw hides, 49 ;
accepts E.S.M.'s scheme, 72 ; dis-
cusses Indian industrial expansion,

1 77-178 ; attitude of to Government
of India proposals, 199-200 ; sugges-
tion of, in response to Lloyd George’s
appeal, 353 ; house of, at Simla,
365 ; other references, 195, 245, 331.

Baroda, Gaekwar of, direct approach
to Viceroy by, 21 ; E.S.M. visits,
158.

Barstow, Mr., at Old Cliftonian’s
dinner, 359.

Barstow, Mrs., decoration awarded to,
185.

Basu, Bhupendranath ; compromising
spirit and reasonableness of, 31,
47, 275 ; at the reception of deputa-
tions, 34 ; on being a Brahman,
49 ; scheme of, for Second Chamber,
61, 137-138, 157, 177, 181-182, 183;
and the “ sweetmeat " incident,
70 ; lunch given by, 81 -82 ; failure
of to study the scheme, 137 ; on
effects of British rule in India, 138 ;
attitude of to six years’ scheme,
180, 217 ; example of soothsaying
by, 193 ; on committee to consider
Government of India proposals,
202, 232, 236, 248-249, 260 ; leaves
Delhi delighted, 224 ; to write
note on Indianisation, 229, 249 ; on
Nair’s divulgence of scheme, 242-
243 ; to influence Nair, 244 ; talks
with Curtis, 250 ; E.S.M. discusses
Curtis's attitude with, 250-251 ;
fiery speeches of, on Governments of
India proposals, 265, 266 ; concern
of, regarding Legislative Council

INDEX

dinner, 267 ; prefers E.S.M.'s scheme
to Marris's, 268 ; agrees with Nair
on Budget proposals, 269 ; and
Chatterji, 271, 272 ; divulges plans,
276 ; his attitude to scheme of
February 22, 277, 279 ; on

committee for consideration of com-
position of Council of State, 283
et seq., 309 ; general opposition of,
to E.S.M.'s proposals, 288 ; at
Jaipur, 314 et seq. ; dines with
Mahmudabad, 323 ; demand of for
Indianisation of I.C.S., 334 ; agrees
with scheme, 337, 344, and to joint
sessions, 359 ; reads the report,
375 ; E.S.M.'s impressions of, 378 ;
on the Liverpool , 381 ; other refer-
ences, 15, 73, 74, 123, 155, 286, 330.

Beale, Phipson, 308.

Beef, Australian and Indian prices of,
231 -

Begum of Bhopal, the, 22, 328 ;

youngest son of, 244-245.

Bengal, Mohammedan action in, 4-5 ;
Bengal Chamber of Commerce,
deputation from, 79 ; resents
E.S.M.'s visit, 80-81.

Bengal Club, E.S.M. at, 93-94.

Bengal Landholders Association desire
Second Chamber and local respons-
ible government, 92.

Bengal National Chamber of Com-
merce, deputation from, 83.

Bengal Provincial Congress Committee,
deputation from, 89.

Berar, peculiar position of, 1 60-1 61 ;
power to create sub-provincial
councils in, 269.

Besant, Mrs. Annie, interviews Chelms-
ford on Mohamed Ali, 4 ; responsi-
bility for the internment and release
of, 6, 20, 43, 72, 96, 1 13, 129-130,
157 ; unreasonable demands of,
19 ; on deputation of Home Rule
League, 56, 57 ; E.S.M.'s impressions
of, 57, 59 ; history of Home Rule
League by, 58 ; incidents of
interview with, 58 et seq. ; successor
to, 67 ; Congress oration of, 72 ;
influence of, 114, 368-369 ; on

deputation for education and votes
for women, 116; interview with
E.S.M. on Lord Sydenham, and
Home Rule, 117, 118-119 ; suggested
invitation of to Governor’s garden
party, 119, 126; Aiyar’s legal

relations with, 123 ; relations of,

387

with Pentland, 126 ; effect of her
propaganda on college strikes, 13 1 ;
Chelmsford proposes action against,
137 ; a suffragette, 217 ; feeling
against, at Congress, 234 ; statement
by in Hindu on E.S.M. and English
pledges, 270. 278 ; on going to
England, 278-279 ; Bannerjea's
support, 336 ; Nair advises to
accept scheme, 337 ; war appeal
to Indians by, 368.

Betts, Captain, R.N.O., Suez Canal,
379-380.

Bharatpur, E.S.M. shoots duck at,
188 et seq. ; 280 et seq.

Bharatpur, Maharaja of, 188, 282.

Bharatpur, the old Maharani of, 190.

Bhopal, E.S.M. shoots in, 327 et seq.

Bhopal, Begum of, E.S.M.'s interview
with, 22 ; meets at Bhopal, 328.

Bihar, grievances of indigo labour in,
58 .

Bihar Landholders, deputation from,
desiring official communal represen-
tation, 99.

Bihar and Orissa, power to create
sub-provincial councils in, 269.

Bikaner, E.S.M.'s visit to, 52 et seq.

Bikaner, Maharaja of, G.C.S.I.,
G.C.I.E., K.C.O., welcomes E.S.M.
at Bombay, 2 ; meetings and talks
with, 18 ; on committee for demands
of Native States, 20 ; on range of
Princes and Chiefs, 21 ; on require-
ments and grievances of Native
States, 22-23 > suggests E.S.M. as
Viceroy, 29 ; E.S.M. the guest of,
53-55 ; speech of, at Conference of
Chiefs, 72 ; shoots at Bharatpur,
189, and in Patiala, 204; interview
with on Alwar's grievances regarding
Native States, 236-237 ; refuses
appointment to Imperial Confer-
ence, 356.

Biigrami, 213.

Bilharzia, experiments regarding at
the Parel Institute, 150.

Bingley, Dr., talk with on I.M.S. and
R.A.M.C., 308.

Birkett, Knighthood of, 159.

Bombay, description of, 2 ; toddy
palm outskirts of, 6 ; enthusiastic
reception of E.S.M. at, 10 ; the
delegation at, 139 et seq. ; beauty
of Government House at, 139 ;
high level of addresses at, 140, 146-
147 ; success of visit to, 165, 166.

INDEX

388

Bombay, Province of, protest against
division between Sindh and, 12 ;
financial crisis in, 345, 346-348, 354.

Bombay Chamber of Commerce,
deputation from, 157.

Bombay Chronicle , Mrs. Besant's
account of her meeting with Lord
Chelmsford in, 4 ; on E.S.M.'s
lack of independence, 129 ; E.S.M.
ridicules, 155 ; articles on E.S.M.
in, 164-165.

Bombay Executive Council, annoyance
of at non-consultation, 156.

Bombay National History Society,
E.S.M. visits, 161 ; excellent
scientific work of, 161-162.

Bombay Presidency Association,
address from, 147.

Bombay Zoo, the, E.S.M. visits, 155.

Bosanquet, B. V., A.G.G. Central
India, treatment of Scindia by,
173 ; at Bhopal, 328, 329.

Bose, paintings of, 92.

Bose, Lady, 87.

Bose, Sir, at Sinha's lunch, 87.

Boy Scouts, refusal to accept Indians
in, 95-96, 97, 98 ; and Commander-
in-Chief’s opinion of, 201.

Brahmanism, influence of, in Madras,
U1-112, 1 14, 1 15 ; and deputation
against, 118 ; representation of,
123 ; Aiyar on, 123, 128-129 ;
Nair on, 127,

Bray, Edmund, 82.

Bray, Lady, 82.

Bray, Sir Hugh, heads Bengal Chamber
of Commerce deputation, 79 ; E.S.M.
dines with, 93-94 ; other references,
82, 275.

British Indian Association, deputation
from, 79.

British North America Act, 7.

Broacha, Shaperji, 159, 372.

Brunyate, J. B., financial scheme of,
91, 103, 105, 168, 206.

Bryce, Lord, 308.

Buckingham Palace crest sold at
Madras, 120.

Buckmaster, Lord, 308.

Bundi, Maharajah of, E.S.M.’s meeting
with, 26.

Burdwan, Maharaja of, heads British
Indian Association deputation, 70-
80 ; Keir Hardie’s term for, 80 ;
at Basu's lunch, 81 ; suggests
Second Chamber and Royal Viceroy,
82 ; heads Bengal National Chamber

of Commerce, deputation, 83 ; father
of, on the salt monopoly, 90 ; third
rate entertainment at garden party
of, 97.

Burgoyne, Major Alan, 268.

Burke, E.S.M. quotes from, 222.

Burma, rice crop of, 86 ; reasons for
desire of separation from India by,
86-87 I amusing mistake made by
Viceroy at deputation from, 89 ;
E.S.M.'s scheme for separation of,
103; and Vincent’s approval of, 105.

Butler, Montagu, Deputy Commis-
sioner, Punjab favours E.S.M.'s
scheme, 48-49.

Butler, Sir Spencer Harcourt, willing
to accept proposals for United
Provinces, 306.

Byculla Club, Bombay, refusal to
admit Indians by, 3 ; and Chaubal’s
attack on, 155 ; E.S.M. dines at, 148.

C

C.I.D., reports of Delhi interviews
obtained by, 69 ; “ sweetmeat "

scare of, 70 ; Sir Charles Cleveland’s
pride in, 88 ; and success as head of,
227-228, 233-234 ; Das's dislike to
use of, 91 ; E.S.M. discusses with
Cleveland, 185, 192 ; Andrews’

attack on, 327.

Cadell, 155.

Calcutta, turmoil in, 29 ; large
programme at, anticipated, 65 ;
E.S.M. at, 69, 75 et seq. ; incident
on train to, 73-74 ; Government
House at, 75 ; E.S.M. leaves for
Madras, 105-108 ; financial crisis
in, 348.

Calcutta, Bishop of, complacency of,
92-93 ; on snakes, 98 ; Nair and
peace prayer of, 198.

Calcutta Club, E.S.M. at, 95.

Calcutta Report, 341.

Calcutta Irades Association, deputa-
tion from, 79, 82.

Calcutta University, Sarbadhakari's
interest in, 83.

Calcutta Zoo, E.S.M. visits, 88.

Campbell, host of E.S.M. at a shoot in
Madras, 112-113.

Campbell, Deputy Commissioner, at
Kheri shoot, 252, 259.

Capital , article on E.S.M. and Roberts
in, 134.

INDEX

Cardew, Lady, no.

Carlisle, 72.

Carmichael, Mr., 81, 142, 164, 168,
372 .

Carmichael, Mrs., 142.

Carter, Frank, at Habra shoot, 94 ;
E.S.M. talks with on Boy Scout
movement in India, 95, 97, 98.

" Casement,” term for traitor in
India, 275.

Caskets, presentation of, 55-56, 57.

Caste, examples of, 13 1, 156.

Cauvery Arbitration, 124.

Cecil, Lord Robert, statement by, on
the Khalifate, 73.

Central National Mohammedan Asso-
ciation, deputation from, 83.

Central Provinces, deputations from,
160, 162 ; power to create sub-
provincial councils in, 269-

Chamberlain, Sir Austen, invited to
India, 97 ; attitude of to Indianisa-
tion during the War, 249.

Chandavarkar, E.S.M.’s talk with,
149 ; approves modified Montagu
scheme, 163, 176.

Chatterji, Mr., E.S.M.’s talk with on
Indian anarchists, 272-273.

Chattopadyia, 116.

Chaubal, Mr., interview with, 154 ;
speech at Orient Club by, 154-155 ;
E.S.M. lunches with, 158 ; attitude
of, to two Montagu schemes, 164 ;
meets E.S.M. at Bombay Station,
372 .

Chelmsford, Lady, visits tomb of
Nizam-ud-din, 235 ; at Gymkhana
Club dinner, 289 ; at Simla, 361,
371 ; at the signing of the report,
366 ; other references, 82, 83, 312,
326.

Chelmsford, Lord, gives glowing
welcome to E.S.M., 2 ; E.S.M.'s
fear of formality of, 7-8 ; E.S.M.'s
impressions of, 7-8, 16, 33, 43, 100,
10 1, 145, 173* 214, 3^3-364, 369 ;
on his progress, 18-20 ; on Mrs.
Besant, 19 ; Amir’s promise to, 20 ;
Native Chiefs’ Conference called by,
20-22 ; on the Viceroyalty, 29-30,
43 ; his suggestion regarding Nair,
31 ; method of reception of deputa-
tions by, 33-35, 44 ; depressed by
E.S.M.’s scheme, 36-37, 40 ; his
dependence on his Council and
advisers, 40-41, 72, 73, iio-m ;
action regarding Government of

389

India’s scheme, 42-43, 46 ; shoots
at Gagranla, 43 ; his action regard-
ing General Maude's successor, 44 ;
attitude to publicity for results of
Mission’s deliberations, 47, 55 ;

interviews Chintamani, 48 ; favour-
able attitude to Two Chamber
scheme, 49 ; on threat to E.S.M.,
52, 140 ; shoots in Bikaner, 52 et
seq. ; reads revised scheme, 55 ;
argues with Jinnah, 57-58 ; con-
versation with Mrs. Besant, 60,
279 ; E.S.M. asks for Dobbs’ letter
to be sent to Curzon, 64 ; attitude
towards scheme, 65, 69, 84, 85, 142,
149, t57, ^76, 177, 178, 196, 205,
206, 236 ; E.S.M. asks, for campaign
on behalf of scheme, 70 ; on his
Council's attitude to scheme, 72-
73 ; at Calcutta, 75 et seq. ; pleased
with political entry of Bengal
Chamber of Commerce, 80 ; amusing
mistake made by at Burma inter-
view, 89 ; destroys belief in Congress
Moslem scheme, 91 ; Chamberlain
invited to India by, 1916, 97 ; his
attitude to Boy Scouts’ veto, 97 ;
easily influenced by reactionaries,
100 ; Curtis’s quarrel with, 101 ;
on Vincent's impressions of E.S.M.
scheme, 105-106 ; dissuades Roberts
from attending Congress, 106; on
borrowing powers for Provinces,
106 ; attitude to a deputation of
welcome by, 107-108 ; on his
position with regard to the Mission,
iio-iii ; his attitude to reform of
Government of India, 116-117
agrees to Besant interview, 117
Mrs. Besant’s opinion of, 119
objects to Princes in Second
Chamber, 124 ; on treatment of
Agitation, 127; Aiyar’s*talk with,
128 ; discusses the report with
E.S.M., 134 ; proposes action

against Mrs. Besant, 137 ; talks
with Curtis, 141 ; Christmas present
from, 142 ; E.S.M. consults on
Persia, 146, 286, 287 ; on a War
profits tax, 159 ; E.S.M.’s letter to,
163, 166, 176, 177, 184 ; on E.S.M.’s
secret conclaves, 163-164 ; on
meeting the Council, 1 77 ; shoots at
Bharatpur, 188 et seq . ; cannot get
things done, 194 ; and Nair’s story
of a peace prayer, 198 ; Nair’s
relations with, 198-199 ; Chelms-

39°

INDEX

ford at meetings of Heads of
Provinces, 206 et seq. ; on agitation,
215-216 ; attitude regarding Princes,
220, 231 ; speech of, at dinner to
Heads of Provinces, 221-222 ;
E.S.M. discusses topics of report,
with, 230 ; intention of going to
Mesopotamia, 231 ; on buying beef,
231 ; approval of Curtis's sugges-
tions on civil servants, 232 ; inter-
view with Sastri, 236 ; E.S.M. gives
notes for the report, 237, 245, 251,
260, 270-271 ; on Metson’s attitude
to the new scheme, 265-266 ;
desires finality in report, 269-270 ;
and reads a report drafted by
himself, 270-271 ; on the Legislative
Council dinner, 270, 274 ; attitude
of, to Indianisation, 283, 286, 325,
327, 334 J on E.S.M.’s intention
of going home, 283, 285, 310, 312 ;
letter from E.S.M. on the report,
284 ; indefiniteness of, 306 ; dis-
cusses provincial decentralisation,
306 et seq. ; attitude to Grand
Committee, 31 1 ; divergence of
opinion from E.S.M. on the report,
313-314 ; and E.S.M.'s protest,
3 2 7> 330* 333 ; reports Home

Government's decision on Imperial
Conference, 335 ; work of, on the
report, 338, 340, 341, 343, 344, 359 ;
E.S.M. goes mahseer fishing with,
342 ; action of, regarding Lloyd
George's War appeal, 349, 352, 354
et seq., 365 ; thanks offered to
Marris by, 358 ; question of pre-
cedence in signing the report by,
3bo, 363, 366 ; signs the report,
366 ; E.S.M.'s letter to, on what
remained to be done, 369-370 ;
E.S.M.'s last talk with, 370-371 ;
other references, 44, 46, 70, 82, 92,
96, 126, 147, 154, 155, 174, 186,
1 88, 197, 202, 243, 244, 276, 297,

309, 3 I2 » 343* 34^* 347, 373-

Chetti, Kandaswani, Editor, Social
Reform Advocate , claims to have
originated Curtis scheme, 13 1.

Chiefs, Conference of, 17, 20-21, see
under Native States.

Chingleput Road, E.S.M.'s snipe shoot-
ing near, 112-113.

Chintamani, Mr., Editor of the Alla-
habad Leader, E.S.M. interviews,
48 ; on the sequel to the Moslem
League scheme, 51 ; disappointed

in Meston, 51-52 ; opposed to
publication of scheme for criticism,
55 ; his attitude to the Native
States, 188 ; on a remark made by
E.S.M., 200 ; E.S.M.’s meetings

with, 279 ; taken into confidence,
313 ; general acceptance of scheme
by, 322 ; secedes from Home Rule
League, 363.

Chirol, Sir Valentine, Times article
by, 7 ; expresses alarm at the
proposals, 246 ; Curtis's influence
with, 262 ; other references, 346,
370.

Chitale, Mr., interview with, 154.

Chitnavis, 99, 159.

Civil Service, the, see Indian Civil
Service.

Clarke, Mr., of Calcutta, recommenda-
tion by on police administration, 84,

IOO-IOI.

Cleveland, Dr., I.M.S., 200.

Cleveland, Sir C. R., skill of with
crocodiles and criminals, 88 ; on
the C.I.D., 185, 192 ; and his

success as head of, 214, 233-234 ;
friendship of, with Mohamed Ali,
192-193 ; friendship of E.S.M. and,
214, 219, 227, 233, 287 ; E.S.M.
promises to see on behalf of Andrews,
327 ; on Tilak, 354 ; suggested to
succeed Robertson, 370.

Cliftonians, old, dinner given by, at
Simla, 359-360.

Clutterbuck, P. H., E.S.M. meets at
Gujner, 53 ; shoots with, at Kheri,
252 et seq. ; on malaria, 333 ; other
reference, 206.

Colour question, in sport, 3-4 ; in
clubs, 158 ; in the Army, 201 ;
see also under Indianisation and
I.C.S.

Communal representation, E.S.M.’s
proposals regarding, 103 ; defects
of, 1 14, 1 15 ; demand for by non-
Brahmans, 118; discussion with
Government of India on, 188, 192;
other references, 68, 140, 14 1, 148,
164, 283, 326.

Conference of Chiefs, advantages of,
17 ; Alwar’s opinion of, 20-21.

Congress, Mrs. Besant desire E.S.M.'s
presence at, 59 ; favours women's
suffrage, 116 ; attitude of to Native
States, 188 ; failure of, 234 ;
probable attitude of, to Montagu
scheme, 320.

INDEX

39i

Congress and Home Rule League,
deputation present address in casket,
55 - 56 .

Congress League Scheme, essentially
one for responsible government, 57 ;
Tilak, the author of, 61 ; All-India
Hindu Sabha desire, 67 ; Pentland
and, 126 ; other references, 19, 32,
72, 84.

Congress Moslem League Scheme,
adopted by Hindu Sabha, 49 ;
deputation from, 56 ; discarded by
intelligent people, 91 ; Sastri on,
122 ; other references, 41, 44, 45,
51, 52, 118, 127, 140, 141, 148.

Conscription, crisis of, 383.

Cooch Behar, Maharaja of, 88, 95, 98.

Cook, Mr. E. M., E.S.M. dines with,
159 .

Coorg Landholders* Association, inter-
view with, 1 16.

Cornwallis, Lord, I.C.S. salaries fixed
by, 269.

Cosimbazar, Raja of, 99 ; political
adviser to, 337.

Cosmopolitan Club, Madras, 120, 124,
126.

Cotton, speculation in, 347.

Council of State, composition of, 283 ;
and Government of India agree
upon, 308, 312.

Cousins, Mrs., 116.

Craddock, Sir R. H., 72, 212, 213.

Creagh, 219.

Crerar, J., private secretary to Lord
Willingdon, 6, 166, 17 1.

Crewe, Lord, on Mrs. Besant’s intern-
ment, 130.

Criminal tribes in India, 366-368.

Crocodiles, E.S.M. and Cleveland at a
shoot of, 225 et seq.

Cunliffe, Lord, rupee proposal of, 37.

Curtis, in Calcutta, 53-54 ; E.S.M.’s
talk with and impression of, 76 ;
against official majority, 76 ;
deputation from organisation of,
89 ; lunches with E.S.M., 101 ;

his quarrel with Chelmsford, 101 ;
E.S.M. and Chelmsford talk with at
Bombay, 141 ; ideas of regarding
civil servants, 141-142, 231-232 ;
views of on E.S.M.’s two schemes,
164 ; story of his desire to become a
Hindu, 214 ; in agreement with
E.S.M., 233 ; retracts agreement
with E.S.M. schemes, 242, 245, 246
et seq., 251, 262 ; influence of, 262 ;

satisfied with the Montague scheme,
266 ; E.S.M. to see, 370 ; other
references, 84, 91, 104, 358.

scheme. Indian attitude to, 66-

67 ; its similarity to Montagu
scheme, 76, 89 ; for Burma, 87 ;
Chetti's claim to have originated,
13 1 ; Jinnah and E.S.M. discuss,

1 43- 1 45 ; other references, n, 13,
19, 32, 51, 80, 90, 92, 99, hi, 123,
124, 127, 132, 158. 183, 195.

Curzon, Marquess of Kedleston, pom-
posity of, 16 ; Dobbs’ letter on
Persia to go to, 64 ; letter to
Chelmsford from, 142 ; attitude of
to provincial autonomy, 307 ; other
references, 9, 11, 61, 248.

Currimbhoy, Sir Fazulbhoy, E.S.M.'s
interview and meetings with, 154,
155 -

Cutch, Maliarao of, on the grievances
of Native States, 22-23 ; dispute
between Morvi and, 23, 247 ; New
Year’s honour to, 16 1.

D

Daljit Singh, Prime Minister of
Kashmir, 24.

Dancing, Indian, 318-319, 324.

Darkiwa, E.S.M. at, 260.

Das, C. B., attitude of, towards Curtis
scheme, 67, 91 ; at Basu’s lunch,
81 ; leader of revolutionary move-
ment in Calcutta, 100.

Das, Mr. Saru, strange attitude of, to
communal representation, 50.

David, Sir Sassoon, 152, 372, 373.

Davis, Agent for Bhopal, 328.

Dawson, Geoffrey, 370.

Deccan Ryots’ Association, interview
with, 148.

Deccan Sabha, 147.

Dear a Dun, E.S.M. visits, 333, 336,
341 et seq. ; suggested as capital of
India, 364.

Delhi, E.S.M. at, 15 et seq., 55 et seq.,
176 et seq., 192 et seq., 206 et seq.,
229 et seq., 242 et seq., 264 et seq., 282
et seq., 306 et seq., 322 et seq., 330
et seq. ; Viceregal Lodge at, 15 ;
method of reception of deputations
at, 33 et seq. ; need for Supreme
Court at, 42 ; arrangements for
procedure at, no-m ; suggested
conference of non-official Indians

INDEX

392

at, 133 ; deficiencies of, as capital,
346, 364 ; Durbar at, 365, 366, 369,
371, 375» 381-382 I see a ^ so New
Delhi.

Denny, 53.

Deputations, method of reception at
Delhi, 33-35 ; anomalies of, 50.

" Despatch ” and " Letter/’ distinc-
tion between, 36.

Devadus, Mr., 115.

Dharbunga, Maharaja of, at Basu’s
lunch, 81 ; addresses from three
deputations read by, 99 ; other
reference, 85.

Dholpur, E.S.M. shoots at, 238 et seq.

Dholpur, Maharaja of, at Bharatpur,
180, 280 ; at the shoot in Patiala,
204, 206 ; personality, 238 ; and
ancestry of, 240 ; E.S.M. the guest
of, at Dholpur, 238 et seq. ; at
Kheri shoot, 255 ; leaves Kheri,
258-259 ,* E.S.M.’s admiration for,

259.

Diary, the, E.S.M. on its keeping,
382-383.

Dillipat, 261.

Discharged soldiers, E.S.M.’s concern
for, 70.

Dobbs, H. R. C., I.C.S. scheme of, 1 ;
on Indianisation of the I.C.S. , 64 ;
on Persia, 64, 99 ; on trial self-
government, 64-65.

Dods, E.S.M. shoots with, 77-78 ;
interest of in the Zoo, 98.

Donoughmore, Earl of, K.P., at the
reception of deputations, 34 ; on
Chelmsford's view of Government of
India scheme, 46 ; assents to
revised memorandum, 55 ; dislike
of Government of India by, 106 ;
visits Madras Aquarium, 114 ; Mrs.
Besant sees, 117; speeches at the
Cosmopolitan Club, Madras, 120-
121, 126-127 ; popularity of, 120-
12 1 ; quarters of, at Bombay, 139 ;
his Christmas present to E.S.M.,
142 ; favours modified scheme, 157 ;
approves letter to Chelmsford, 163 ;
at Gwalior, 166, 167 ; hunts tigers
at Rampur, 1 73-1 74; against Pro-
vincial Second Chambers, 178 ;
remarks on Government of India's
acceptance of scheme, 177 ; to see
Nair, 186 ; agrees with January 26
scheme, 230 ; at the Dholpur shoot,
2 3$» 239, 242 ; to influence Nair,
244 ; story of red tape by, 248 ;

committee work of, 251, 279, 285 ;
at Kheri shoot, 254, 255, 257, et seq. ;
at tiger hunt in Alwar, 291, 292,
294, et seq. ; shoots in Jaipur, 314
et seq. ; his first tiger, 316 ; mugger
shooting by, 340 ; dislike of Simla
by, 361 ; E.S.M. 's impressions of,
377 ; on the Liverpool , 381 ; other
references, 19, 24, 61, 73, 94* 1 7 2 >
209, 231, 247, 286, 325, 333.

Dornakal, Bishop of, interview with,
114-115.

Dougre, Rai Bahadur, speaks for the
depressed classes, 148.

Drummond, excellence of as private
secretary, 379.

Du Boulay, Sir J., 24, 72, 186, 195, 266.

Duck shooting at Bharatpur, 189-190.

Duff, death of, 218-219.

Dufferin, H.M.S., E.S.M. leaves Bom-
bay on, 374.

Dufferin, Lady, on Peterhoff, Simla,
365.

Duhsera, the, Government participa-
tion suggested, 27-28.

Duke, Sir William, financial scheme
of, 1, 12, 18, 31, 36, 41, 206 ; illness
of, 18, 30, 47 ; agrees with E.S.M.’s
plan, 30 ; drafts scheme for circula-
tion to local government, 48, 52,

61 ; suggestion on the Budget by,

62 ; E.S.M. discusses progress with,

84 ; helps to draft letter to local
governments, 90 ; attitude to
E.S.M.’s schemes, 106, 157, 183 ;
on Delhi sub-committee of finance,
no ; desires Second Chamber in
Provinces, 178 ; tractability and
helpfulness of, 183, 184 ; suggests
composition of Government of
India's Second Chamber, 196 ; on
committee to consider reform of
Government, 202, 232, 236, 248-
249, 2C0 ; considers financial

proposals for Provinces, 207 ; dis-
inclined to go forward, 250 ; at
Kheri shoot, 254 et seq. ; emenda-
tions of plan by, 267 ; discussed by
delegation, 268 ; attitude of to
Budget wrangles, 270 ; four points
of, against scheme, 274 ; suggestions
of for I.C.S. pay and Indianisation,
282, 2 88, 324-325* 327* 33i i on

committee to consider composition
of Council of State, 283, 285 ;
agrees on affirmative powers, 285 ;
death of his brother, 289 ; discus-

INDEX

393

sions with on provincial decentralisa-
tion, 306-308 ; agrees on first six
chapters of Report, 338 ; work of,
on Report, 344, 355 ; leaves Simla,
371 ; E.S.M.’s impression of, 377-
378 ; on the Liverpool, 381 ; other
references, 73, 188, 231, 251, 284,
286.

Durand, 325.

Durbar Hall, Bombay, deputations
received at, 139 et seq.

Dyarchy, 162, 211, 218, 220, 251 ;

term invented by Duke, 377.

E

Earle, Sir Archdale, Chief Commis-
sioner of Assam, at meeting of
Lieutenant-Governors, 209 ; leaves
Delhi delighted, 224 ; on H.M.S.
Duffer in, 374 ; reads the Report, 375,
376 .

East India Railway Company, E.S.M.
to discuss management of, with the
Government, 203.

Education, in Bengal, 90, 92 ; Indian
demand for, 101.

Edwards, Director-General of Indian
Medical Service, 194 ; E.S.M. dis-
cusses the I.M.S. and R.A.M.C. with,
200 ; at Old Cliftonians’ dinner, 359-
360.

Egan, Mrs., 15 1.

Egerton, Colonel, 213.

Elephanta Caves, E.S.M. visits, 156-
157 -

Enabling legislation, scheme for, 103,
no, 135.

English Press in India, the, Curtis
denounces, 76 ; arrogance of, 95 ;
statements by Jones in, 96, 9 7.

Englishman , Editor of, a member of
Bengal Chamber of Commerce, 80 ;
on the deputation of the European
Association, 89.

European Association, the, Lord
Chelmsford’s opinion of, 19 ; deputa-
tion from, 89 ; poisonous references
to, E.S.M.’s visit, 89-90 ; good
address presented by Bombay
Branch of, 158.

Examinations, danger of for I.C.S., 286.

F

Fagan, Financial Commissioner of the
Punjab, belief in O’Dwyer's policy
by, 39 ; on provincial boundaries,
246.

Farrideeonje, 138, 213.

Filoses, Italian family of, 240.

Finch -Knight ley, at the Habra shoot,
94 -

Fleet wood- Wilson, 7 2.

Franey, Mr. G. E.. at Dholpur shoot,
242 ; at the Kheri shoot, 254 et seq.,
259, 262, 263 ; at Alwar’s tiger
hunt, 294 et seq., 298 303 ; shoots
in Jaipur, 314 et seq. ; in Bhopal,
329 ; at Dehra Dun, 341 et seq. ;
at Ismailia, 380 ; E.S.M.’s tribute
to, 382-383 ; other references, 75,

98, 134-

Fraser, Resident at Shahabad, 138.

Fraser, Gordon, 124.

Fraser, Sir Stewart, 212.

Freeman, Lord Willingdon, see under
Willingdon.

Freeman-Thomas, Inigo, 374.

Foreign Office, question of Viceroy’s
membership of, 30.

Forest Research Institute, E.S.M.
visits, 345.

G

Gait, Sir E. A., in favour of E.S.M.’s
scheme, 49 ; at meeting of Heads
of Provinces, 209 ; leaves Delhi
delighted, 224.

Gandhi, interview with, 56, 58 ;

threatens hunger strike, 339 ; action
of, regarding internment of the Alis,
373 *

Gagranla, E.S.M. and Chelmsford’s
shoot at, 43.

Garhmuktesar, E.S.M. shoots croco-
diles near, 225 et seq.

Garu, Venkataratnam Nayudu, inter-
view with, 132.

Gaunt, Admiral, requests material for
Madras harbour, 132.

George I, lock of hair of, offered by
a Zemindar at Madras, 120.

George V sends message to Delhi
Durbar, 375.

George, David Lloyd, dramatic sense
of, 104 ; effect of self-determination

394

INDEX

speeches of, 184 ; his references to
Russia in speech, 185 ; asks for
more War contributions from India,
349 ; and suggestions regarding
request, 352 et seq. ; other refer-
ences, 10, 59, 96.

Ghokale, 52, 122, 354.

Ghose, Arabindo and Barindra, 272.

Ghose, Mati Lai, Editor, Amritsa
Bazar Patrika, at Basu's lunch, 81 ;
interview with, 84-85, 91.

Gibson, Mr., assistant to Resident of
Bharatpur, 281.

Gillman, H. F. W., favours Curtis
scheme, m ; E.S.M. dines with at
Madras Club, 124.

Gourlay, W. R., at Calcutta, 75 ;
management of deputations by,
79 ; Indian esteem for, 81 ; sees
Tagore brothers, 92 ; suggested to
go on deputation to England, 142 ;
political education of Indian civil
servants proposed by, 232 ; propa-
ganda department of, 266, 286 ;

E.S.M. explains propaganda scheme
to, 279-280.

Government House, Bombay, 4.

Government House, Calcutta, 75.

Government of India, see India,
Government of,

Government of India Act, suggested, 7.

Grafton, the, E.S.M. lunches on, 380.

Grand Committee, powers and con-
stitution of, 309, 31 1, 324.

Grant, Lady, 245.

Grant, Sir A. H., K.C.I.E., C.S.I., 20,

3°» 73» 2 5<>. 34°> 3 66 -

Grant, Hamilton, speaks on provincial
boundaries, 246.

Grant, Tony, 287, 325.

Great Indian Peninsular Railway,
E.S.M. ’s journey on, 9, 11.

Greenway, military secretary to Lord
Willingdon, 3.

Gubbay, Controller of Currency, pessi-
mistic view of E.S.M. ’s mission by,
29 ; E.S.M. meets, 159 ; on the
I.C.S., 326.

Guindy, E.S.M. at, in.

Gujner, Bikaner’s palace at, 52-53.

Gupta, at Basu’s lunch, 81.

Gupta, Sir Krishna, at Sinha's lunch,
87 ; belief in Curtis scheme, 92 ;
E.S.M. dines with, 95.

Gwalior, approach to Viceroy by, 21 ;
first-class Resident for, 26 ; E.S.M.
visits, 166 et seq . ; tiger hunting in,

168 et seq. ; pottery and carpet
making in, 171.

Gwalior, Maharani of, E.S.M. visits,

J 74-

Gwynne, secretary to Sir William
Meston, 49.

Gymkhana Club, E.S.M. and Donough-
more give dinner at, 289.

H

Habra, E.S.M. shoots at, 94“95-

Haig, Sir Douglas, telegram sent to,
from Old Cliftonian's dinner, 359-
360.

Hailey, Commissioner for Delhi, 15,
31-32, 176, 203.

Haldane, Lord, 307.

Halliday, Mr. F. C. T. (Indian Police),
accompanies E.S.M., 2, 52, 134, 161,
247 ; at Kheri shoot, 255, 257, 259,
262 ; at Alwar's tiger hunt, 294 et
seq., 303, 304 ; at Jaipur, 314 et seq . ;
at Bhopal, 328-329 ; and kills tiger,
328 ; E.S.M.’s impression of, and
tribute to, 378 ; at Ismailia, 380.

Hardie, Keir, Burdwan's term for, 80.

Hardinge, Lord, dignity of, 16 ;
Conference of Chiefs held by, 17 ;
Scindia's friendship for, 173 ; tigers
shot by, 175 ; Nair’s good relations
with, 198-199 ; bombing of, 233 ;
Red Book suggestions of, for affirma-
tive powers, 284.

Hathibojh, E.S.M. at, 260.

Hawking at Kheri, 253, 255-256.

Hearsey, Jack, at Kheri shoot, 251 et
seq. ; hawking by, 253, 255-256.

Heaton, Sir John, 148.

Hedjaz, King of, suggested British
policy to make him Khalifa, 73.

Hensman, Mr., 115.

Hepper, Mr., 9.

Hewitt, 306, 370.

Hill, Sir Claude, attitude of, to
E.S.M. 's schemes, 31, 72, 180, 192,
230 ; accepts reform proposals for
Indian Government, 195 ; com-
mittee work of on proposals, 260,
271, 272, 279 ; on wheat exports
from India to England, 352-353,
357 ; opposes All-India Conference,
354 ; Peterhoff, the Simla residence
of, 365 ; other references, 365.

Hill men, curious incident at interview
with, 89.

INDEX

395

Hindu, orthodox, difficulty of defini-
tion of, 99.

Hindu, Mrs. Besant's case against 123 ;
E.S.M.’stalkwithEditorof, 124; Mrs.
Besant's statement on E.S.M. in, 270.

Hindu Sabha, interviews with members
of, 49.

Hindus and Mahommedans Concilia-
tion Boards suggested for, 99 ;
disunion of, created by communal
representation, 100

Hirtzel suggests previous sanction to
be abolished, 230.

Hitti, Prince, of Gooch Bchar, 203.

Hogg, Malcolm, 275, 322-323.

Hohler, 308.

Holderness, 36.

Holland, Sir Thomas, E.S.M. meets,
214 ; on India’s industrial contri-
bution to the War, 353-354 ; other
references, 93, 221.

Holland Commission, 53.

Holland-Hibbert, attends a shoot,
77-78; snipe shooting by, 112;
other references, 83, 191, 372.

Home Rule for India ; Mrs. Besant’s
demand for, 118 ; S. Aiyar writes
to President Wilson on, 123 ;
Germans stated to be financing
movement, 127 ; Brahmans and
the movement, 128 ; E.S.M. 's views
on, 1 33-134 ; reasons for impos-
sibilities of, 136-137 ; Kapharde’s
advocacy of, 323.

Home Rule for Ireland, negotiations
for, 383.

Home Rule League and scheme, 52 ;
deputation, 56, 59 ; purpose of, 57 ;
Mrs. Besant’s history of, 58 ; effect
of Montagu mission on, 363 ; other
references, 52, 31 1.

Honret, 238.

Hopwood, suggested for Bombay, 370.

Hornell, W. W., depressed over
education in Bengal, 92.

House of Lords scheme, 133.

Howard, H. F., financial proposals for
division of revenues, 18, 19 ; tele-
graphs on the Bombay financial
crisis, 346-347.

Hudson, Adjutant-General, suggestions
of, in response to Lloyd George's
appeal, 352.

Humayun's Tomb, 199.

Hunter, Bernard, at Madras Club,
124 ; business ability of, 125.

Huxm policy, the, 5, 119.

I

Id, the, Government participation in,
suggested, 27-28.

Ilbert Bill, the, 29, 306.

Imam, Hassan, 56.

Imbari, E.S.M. ai, 342.

Imperial Conference, representative
of Native States for, 335 ; choice
of delegates and E.S.M. 's disapproval
of methods of appointment to, 356,
375 -

Inconvertibility in India, 348.

India, Government of, inadequacy of
scheme of, 46, 47 ; ‘attitude of, to
its own reform, 93, 116-117, 135,
165, [92, 194-195, 196, 202, 230,
231, 232, 260, 264-265, 271, 279 ;
two Chambers for, 103, 105, 179 et
seq., 188, 192 ; inactivity of, 122-
123 ; Pentland’s opinion of, 125,
126 ; Curtis scheme does not touch,
144 ; new idea for, 166 ; accepted
by, 176-177 ; but under a mis-
apprehension, 178 et seq. ; E.S.M.’s
conference with, on responsible
government in six years, 179 et seq. ;
delegation's first conference with,
179-182 ; second conference with,
and scheme accepted by, 185-188 ;
procedure for discussions by, 188 ;
conference with, on A and B
subjects, 219-220, 323 ; agree on
scheme of February 22, 277-278 ;
meeting with on composition of
reformed government, 285 ; and
powers regarding Provinces, 307-
308 ; agrees on Council of State,
and affirmative powers for Provinces,
308 ; its resolution on self-govern-
ment on the Report, 343 * inade-
quacy of, 364.

India, social difficulties in, 230 ; Lloyd
George's appeal for more help in
the War from, 349 ; and E.S.M.'s
conversations on, 352 et seq .

Indian Army, General Monro's views
on, 201-202, 361 ; story of red tape
in, 248 ; question of absorption into
an Imperial Army, 308.

Indian Association, deputation from,
83 -

Indian Civil Service, question of
Indianisation of, 41-42, 72, 105,
249, 269, 286 ; and Dobbs's scheme
for, 64 ; Duke's schemes for, 324-
325, 33 1 > and difficulties regarding

INDEX

396

proportions, 334 ; Indian attitude
to, 68 ; conservative tendencies of,
69, 71 ; need for political work by,
70 ; distrust of, 71 ; Marris’s
opinion on, 88, 236 ; formality of,
91 ; consideration of, in Report,
134; reforms suggested by European
Association, 158 ; Duke considers
pay, pensions and leave of, 269,
282, 324-325 ; question of examin-
ation or nomination in, 286 ;
Meyer’s attitude to improvements in,
327 ; faults of, 359 ; see also Indiani-
sation.

Indian coolie, story showing political
wisdom of, 245.

Indian crowds, enthusiasm of, 10.

Indian Defence Force, 201, 202.

Indian Desert, the, 53.

Indian fruits, 159-160.

Indianisation, 229, 249, 269, 272, 275,
282 et seq., 288, 327 ; and Duke's
proposals for, 324-325, 331.

Indian Medical Service, organisation
of and relation with R.A.M.C.
discussed, 200-201, 308.

Indian Reform schemes, see under
Curtis, Duke, Montagu-Chelmsford.

Ind'a Office, Meyer complains of
treatment of Ind’a by, 37 ; Indian
civilians suggested for, 105 ; Duke,
Seton and Kisch to confer on future
of, 229-230 ; reforms for, 288 ; and
the Bombay financial crisis, 348.

Indore, Maharaja of, 24.

Internment and Internees Act, 145 ;
Sir Sydney Rowlatt to study policy
of, 156 ; and agitation, 216 ;
Chatter ji's appeal regarding, 273 ;
Bannerjea suggests advisory boards
for, 275, 276, 287 ; Mrs. Besant on,
278.

Ironside, on the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce’s indignation, 81.

Islington, Lord, alleged statement of
on a cut and dried scheme, 81 ;
attitude of, to Indians in the Army,
201 ; Chelmsford sends praise of
E.S.M. to, 202 ; letter from, to
E.S.M. at Aden, 375 ; other refer-
ences, 104, 288.

Commission and Report, 42, 48.

j

Jaffar, 345.

Jaipur, E.S.M.’s shooting visit to, 314
et seq.

Jaipur, Maharaja of, request in
vernacular from, 5 ; on independ-
ence of Native States, 24 ; on
government and railway contracts,
28 ; suspiciousness of, 28 ; agrees
with Ruling Chiefs’ recommenda-
tions, 234-235 ; interview with,
247 ; E.S.M. the guest of, at
Jaipur, 314 ; impression of, 315 ;
hospitality of, 315, 318.

James, Dr., called in for E.S.M., 335.

Jam Sahib, the Maharaja of Nawa-
nagar, 20, 28-29, 244.

Jardine, Resident for Scindia, 26.

Jcejeebhoy, Sir Jamsetjee, 155.

Jhind, Diwan of, 247.

Jinnah, Nair’s letter from, 52 ; inter-
view with, 56, 57 ; Mr. Walker on
qualities and future of, 67 ; talks
with E.S.M. on internment of the
Alis, 140, 1 42-1 43 ; and on the
schemes, 143-145, 287 ; promises
support, 31 1 ; dines with Mahmuda-
bad, 323 ; offers of help from,
359 .

Jones, Mr., Editor of the Statesman ,
E.S.M. reproves, for his mis-state-
ments, 96-97.

Joshi, Dr., 115.

Juma Masjia, the Iman of, on dangers
of Home Rule, 46.

Jury system, abolition of in India,
proposed by Curtis, and favoured by
Vincent, 101, 105.

K

Kaiser -/ -Hind, P. & O. liner, at
Bombay, 3.

Kalka, E.S.M. at, 203, 351, 371, 372.

Kapharde, E.S.M.’s talk with, 323.

Kapurthala, interview with, 195.

Karens, the, history of, given to
E.S.M. by the Burmans, 89.

Kashmir, Maharaja of, E.S.M.’s inter-
view with, 24.

Kathiawar, E.S.M.’s projected trip to,
264.

Kaul, Kishen, Deputy Commissioner
in the Punjab, on Indians in the
Civil Service, 41-42.

INDEX 397

Keatinge, Director of Agriculture, Leston, head of the Parel Institute,

Bombay, favours the Montagu
scheme, 15 1.

Keeling, engineer-in-charge, New
Delhi 32, 2x9.

Keith, Revenue Secretary in Burma,
gives reasons for Burmese desire for
separation, 87.

Kerr, Philip, 262.

Khalifate, the, British policy regard-
ing, 73-

Khan, Lady Ahmed, 172.

Khan, Sir Bertram, contradictory
demands of, 50.

Khan, Sir Mumtaz-ud-Dowlah Nawab
Mohamed Faizaz Ali, 314.

Khaparde, interview with, 163.

Kheri, E.S.M.’s shooting visit to, 252
et seq.

Kincade speaks on Sind and the
Punjab, 246.

Kirkpatrick, General, 44.

Kisch, Mr. C. H., for Second Chambers
in Provinces, 178 ; shoots in Bhopal,
329 ; at Old Cliftonian's dinner,
359 ; E.S.M.’s impression of, 378 ;
at Ismailia, 380 ; other references,
159, 282, 288, 325.

Kitchener, Lord, on the Suez Canal
defences, 380.

Kolhapur, Maharja of, on require-
ments and grievances of Native
States, 22-23 ; on Willingdon and
centralised control, 23.

Krishna, a Ahir, 48.

Krishnaji, Mr., 48.

Kukra, 259.

Kulaith, tiger hunt at, 171.

Kumar, use of the title, 23.

L

Labour question in India, 177-178.

Lall, Ganeshi, E.S.M.'s admiration of
goods for sale by, 96.

Lallgarh Palace, 52.

Lathom, Lord, 2.

Latifi, Alma, E.S.M.’s meetings with,
196, 326.

Lauder Brunton tube, the, 150.

Laver ton, 2, 161.

Leader , the Allahabad, Editor of, 48.

Lefroy, report of on Salvation Army’s
work, 367-368.

Legislative Council dinner to E.S.M.,
267, 270, 272, 274, 275.

149, 150*

” Letter ” and " Despatch,” distinc-
tion between, 36.

Lieutenant-Governors and Heads of
Provinces, meeting of, Donough-
more to warn on danger of dissen-
sion, 205 ; at Delhi, 206 et seq . ; fail
to agree, 21 1 et seq. ; accept com-
promise, 223 ; to be annual, 224-
225.

Liverpool, E.S.M.’s journey from Port
Said to Taranto on, 381-382.

Local governments, informal letter
drafted to, 90-91, 92, 98.

Longhurst, Colonel, 361.

Lovett, Sir Verney, interview with,
on the Division as a unit, 63.

Lowndes, Sir George, attitude to
E.S.M’s scheme, 72, 180, of January
11, 187 ; discussion with on lubri-
cants, 184 ; and on formulae for
second conference, 185 ; attacks
Reform of India Government pro-
posals, 195 ; and improving attitude
to, 197, 202 ; committee work of,
218, 248-249, 260, 271, 272, 279 ;
desires Provincial scheme extended
to Government of India, 230 ; and
against two Chambers, 230, 232 ;
scheme of, for Government of India,
236 ; suggestions of, regarding
scheme of February 22, 277 ; objects
to composition of Council of State,
283 ; discussion with on provincial
decentralisation, 306-308 ; and on
official bloc, 326, 327 ; assists in
drafting the Report, 345 ; other
references, 312, 371.

Loyalists' League, Monghyr, deputa-
tion from, 98.

Lubricants, 184, 186, 188, 192, 197,
244.

Lutyens, Sir Edward, architecture of,
at New Delhi, 31.

M

Mackenzie, John, 191.

Maclagan, on O 'Dwyer’s Reform pro-
posal, 39.

MacMahon, 275.

MacNamara, success of, in silk culture,

367-

Macphail, Rev., on college strikes,
; caste story told by, 13 1.

INDEX

398

Madhavaro, Diwan, leader of deputa-
tion from All-India Hindu Sabha, 68.

Madras, City, E.S.M. at, 109 et seq. ;
beauty, 109 ; climate, 113 ; E.S.M.
visits Aquarium and Zoo, 114, 121 ;
harbour works of, 132-133 ; E.S.M.
leaves, 134, 136.

Presidency, political situation

in, 109, 125-126 ; influence of

Brahmanism in, m-112, 114, 135 ;
racial feeling in, 1 14 ; and Govern-
ment of, its attitude to Anglo-
Indian Association, 70 ; E.S.M.'s
poor opinion of, 116, 121, 124, 135 ;
Aiyar on treatment of deputation
by, 128-129 ; action of in Mrs.
Besant's case, 1 29-130 ; memo, of
sent to meeting of Lieutenant-
Governors, 207 et seq.

Madras Christian College, 130.

Madras Club, E.S.M. dines at, 124.

Madras Mail, Government inspires,
126 ; on E.S.M.'s visit to Calcutta,
129.

Maffey, Mr. J. L. ; shoots at Gagranla,
43 ; in favour of Two Chamber
scheme, 49 ; E.S.M. talks with on
the I.C.S., 70-72 ; attends a shoot,
77-78 ; at Basu’s lunch, 81-82 ;
snipe shooting by, 112 ; E.S.M. and,
join in joke on Roberts, 121, 127 ;
E.S.M. discusses the Government of
India and the Scheme with, 179,
197 ; on Chelmsford going to
Mesopotamia, 231 ; on the Durbar,
366, 369 ; at signing of Report, 366 ;
other references, 15, 28, 55, 124,
191, 202, 230, 266, 314, 337, 338,
355 -

Maffey, Mrs., J. L., 371.

Maharaj Kumar, use of the title, 23.

Mahmudabad, Raja of, hostility of,
195 ; E.S.M. dines with, 323-324 ;
accepts recommendations, 338 ;
other references, 143, 363.

Mahseer fishing, 342.

Malaria, death rate from, 84 ; preva-
lence of, 95.

Malaviya, Pandit Madan, interview
with, and impression of, 62 ; loss of
Government's confidence by, 199 ;
attitudes to the scheme, 286-287,
325, 326 ; on agitation, 353.

Manchester Guardian, the, represented
by Mr. Walker, 65 et seq.

Manners-Smith, Agent for Rajputana,
188.

Mant, Mr., 219.

Mant, Mr. and Mrs., 271.

Marris, W. S., on E.S.M. and Meyer's
schemes, 30-31 ; on the I.C.S., 88,
236; work of on the Report, 134,
188, 260, 267, 284, 287-288, 297,
324-325, 330, 336, 340 et seq., 361 ;
his allegation, regarding and E.S.M.'s
" dressing down," 35^-359 ; sug-
gested to go on deputation to
England, 142 ; Calcutta letter of,
154 ; E.S.M. airs his speech on,
193 ; brings reports to Kheri,
260 ; emendation of plan on A and
B subjects, suggested by, 267, 268 ;
dissatisfied with agreement on A and
B subjects, 323 ; on the Liverpool ,
382 ; other references, 194, 372.

Marshall, General, appointed as
Maude's successor in Mesopotamia,
44.

Mary, Queen, presents sent out by,
sold at Madras, 120.

Maude, General, illness and death of,
44 ; heron found by, 162.

Maulvis, deputation from, 45, 46.

Maynard, Mr., Punjab Financial Com-
missioner desires elected majority,
39 ; in favour of Executive Com-
mittee idea, 40.

Mazhar-ul-Haq, 56.

Mazumdar, Rai Jadu Nath, interview
with, on votes for women, and a
Second Chamber, 87-88.

Medical profession, E.S.M.'s contempt
for, 331 et seq.

Mehta, R. D., at Basu's lunch, 81 ;
memorandum on Montagu lines
sent in by, 83 ; represents Burma
Provincial Congress Committee, 86-
87.

Mesant, Mr., 148.

Mesopotamia, E.S.M.'s desire to visit,
65 ; Mrs. Egan's admiration for
British achievements in, 151 ; Lady
Ali Shah's importance in, 152 ;
Viceroy considers going to, 231 ;
irrigation of, and room for Indian
colonisation to, 250.

Mesopotamian Commission Report,
219.

Meston, Sir James, now Lord, adopts
Curtis scheme, 19 ; conversation
with on local government and
publicity of results of deliberations,
47, 55 *» Chintamani's disappoint-
ment in, 51-52 ; sub-provincial

INDEX

399

scheme of, 60 ; Nehru a firebrand
to, 62 ; to be consulted on drafting
of scheme, 65 ; on finance sub-
committee at Delhi, no ; to take
Meyer’s place on Council, m ;
financial scheme of, 165, 168, 206,
207 opposes probationary period,
209 and compromise on, 210, 212,
215 agreed to by Heads of
Provinces, 217-218 ; honour for
prefers his compromise to
scheme of January 26, 225 ; new
schemes explained to, 265-266 ;
P.C. suggested for, 270 ; and
Mahmudabad, 338 ; other references,
49 , 35 «-

Metcalf House, proposed dinner at,
267, 270.

Meyer, Sir W. S., financial scheme of,
18, 19, 3<h 103, 206 ; suggested to
succeed Holderness, 36 ; discussion
with on the rupee and on reform, 37-
38 ; scheme favoured by Roberts, 41 ;
destructive brain of, 55 ; opposes
E.S.M. 's scheme, 65, 72 ; Marris
on, 88 ; on Brunyate, 91 ; Govern-
ment of India against scheme of,
105 ; on finance sub-committee,
Delhi, no ; Meston to take place
of on Council, in ; wishes delega-
tion to meet Government of India
as individuals, 177 ; crucial ques-
tions by, 179 ; attitude of to six
years’ scheme, 180, 182 ; on his
budget, 182, 184 ; accepts Govern-
ment of India reform proposals,
195, 202 ; E.S.M. dines with, 199 ;
on committee for Reform of Govern-
ment proposals, 202, 232, 236, 248-
249, 260 ; consideration of financial
proposals before Lieutenant-
Governors, 207 ; and accepts with
reluctance, 224 ; on Nair's attitude
to Budget proposals, 269-270 ;
E.S.M. talks with, 274 ; on the
scheme of February 22, 277 ; objects
to composition of Council of State,
283, 286 ; against Duke’s sugges-
tions for I.C.S. pay improvements,
283, 284, 327 ; and compromise,
331 ; general opposition of, 288 ;
action of, regarding Bombay
financial crisis, 346 et seq. ; other
references, 194, 220, 330.

Millard, of the Bombay Natural
History Society, 161.

Milne, Wardlaw, 323.

Milner, Lord, 101, 248.

Miria Tal, shoot of gons at, 261.

Misra, Pandit (United Provinces),
interview with, 62.

Mitter, P.C., speaks on behalf of
Curtis scheme, 89.

Mohammedans, new association of in
Bengal, 4 ; effect of Zionist declara-
tion on, 18 ; deputations of, 45-
46, 150 ; and Moslems, 49-50 ; and
Hindus, Conciliation Boards for,
99 ; disunion of, created by com-
munal representation, 100 ; attitude
of to Moslem League scheme, 140.

Mohand, E.S.M. at, 345.

Mohurrum Dusehra, outbreaks, 46.

Monahan, I.C.S., interview with, 75.

Mongolia, Rev. Macphail mined on,
130.

Monro, Lady, 330.

Monro, Sir Charles, Commander-in-
Chief, suggested as General Maude’s
successor, 44 ; attitude of, to six
years scheme, 180 ; against Govern-
ment of India proposals, 195
E.S.M. dines with, 196, 233, 330
on Indian officers in the Army, 201
lecture on the War, by, 217 ; dinner
given by, 220 et seq. ; and witty
speech by, 221 ; Lord Montagu of
Beaulieu’s admiration for, 268 ;
E.S.M. discusses Lloyd George’s
appeal with, 352 ; gives memo, on
Indian Army, to E.S.M., 361 ; sees
E.S.M. off from Simla, 371.

Montagu, Edwin S., reaches Bombay,
1 ; rdle of, in India, 1-2 ; his
reception at Bombay, 2-3, 10 ; at
Government House, 4-5 ; his con-
versation with Willingdon on
Reform, 5-7 ; his ideas regarding
his task, 7-8, 10, 19 ; journeys to
Delhi, 9, ii ; outlines his scheme,
12-14 ; reception at Delhi, 15 ;
meeting with Lord Chelmsford,
and impression of, 16 ; meeting with
Indian Chiefs, 17-18, 20-29 I and
his summary of policy for them,
25-26 ; meets Gubbay, 29 ; talks
with Chelmsford on the attitude of
a Viceroy, 29-30 ; discusses with

’ Marris, Hill, Basu, Roberts and
Nair, 30-31 ; sees New Delhi with
Hailey, 31-32 ; discusses with
O' Dwyer, 32, 38-39 ; and with
Roos-Keppel, 32-33 ; his admira-
tion for Chelmsford, 33, 43, 10 1 ;

400

INDEX

and sends him the scheme, 36 ;
receives deputations, 33-36 ; sees
Sir W. Meyer on the rupee, 37-38 ;
receives representatives of the
Punjab, 39—40, 49-5° > talks with
Chelmsford on the scheme, 40-41 ;
receives deputations from Zemindars
and Talukdars, 41 ; sees Kishen
Kaul, 41-42 ; his opinion on the
Government of India's memo., 42-
43, 46, 47 ; shoots at Gagranla, 43 ;
takes action regarding General
Maude's successor, 44 ; receives
Moslem deputations from United
Provinces, 44-46 ; talks with Meston
on publicity for the scheme, 47, 55 ;
receives deputations from the U.P.
Chamber of Commerce and the
Ahirs, 48 ; interviews Chintamani,
48, 51-52 ; talks with Butler,

Gwynne, Grant and Barnes, 48-
49 ; with Chelmsford on Two
Chambers, 49 ; with Shaft, 50-51 ;
threat to bomb, 52 ; shoots in
Bikaner, 52 et seq. ; meets Clutter-
buck and Sir Stanley Reed, 53-54 I
receives deputations from Congress
Home Rule and Punjab Provincial
Leagues, 56 et seq. ; interviews with
Banner jea, 57 ; Jinnah, 57-58 ;
Gandi, 58 ; Mrs. Besant, 58-60, 117,
118-119, 278-279 ; Sir B. Robertson
dines with, 60 ; interviews Tilak, 61 ;
Malaviya, 61-62 ; representatives
and civil servants from U.P. and
Central Provinces, 62-63 ; inter-
views Ajab Khan, 64 ; pressure on
time of, 64, 65 ; talks with Dobbs
on I.C.S. and Persia, 64-65 ; talks
with Mr. Walker (Manchester
Guardian) on his impressions,
65-67 ; Indian attitude to 66;
deputations from Hindu Sabha,
67-68 ; talks with Patrick of the
India Office, 68-69 ; receives com-
pliments of Maharana of Udaipur,
69 ; his concern for discharged
soldiers, 70 ; recommends Chelms-
ford to carry out a campaign for
scheme, 70 ; talks with Maffey on
I.C.S. , 72 ; and Chelmsford's lack
of independence, 72-73 ; amusing
incident to, on train to Calcutta,
73-74 ; interviews Monahan and
Stevenson-Moore, 75 ; collapses
after tennis, 76 ; talks with Curtis
and Sinha, 76-77 ; shoots snipe

near Calcutta, 77-78 ; routine of,
79 ; receives deputations from,
Anglo-Indian Association, Bengal
Chamber of Commerce, Calcutta
Trades’ Association and British
Indian Association, 79-82 ; lunches
with Basu, 81-82 ; interviews
Burdwan, 82 ; shoots in the Zoo, 82-
83 ; receives deputations from
Central National Mohammedan
Association, Bengal National
Chamber of Commerce, Indian and
Marwari Associations, 83 ; sends
memos, to Chelmsford, 84, 85 ;
interviews Moti Lai Ghose, 84 ;
meets the Tagores, 85, 92 ; receives
deputation from Moslem bodies,
86 ; hears Burman case and Keith
on the subject, 86-87, 89 ; lunches
with Sinha, 87-88 ; interviews
Mukerji, 88, 90 ; dines with Marris,
88 ; visits Zoo, 88 ; receives deputa-
tions from European Association,
Curtis’s organisation and Bengal
Provincial Congress Committee, 89-
90 ; interviews Hillman, 89 ;
poisonous references to by European
Association, 89-90 ; interviews with
old Burdwan, Gooroodas Bannerjea,
Ashutosh Mukharji, 90 ; drafts
letter to local government, 90-91 ;
talks with C. B. Das, 91-92 ;
deputation from Bengal Land-
holders' Association, 92 ; receives
Bishop of Calcutta, 92-93 ; Chelms-
ford informs of Council’s decision
on scheme, 93 ; dines with Sir
Hugh Bray, 93-94 ; shoots at Habra,

94- 95 ; dines at Calcutta Club with
Gupta, 95 ; on Boy Scouts in India,

95- 96, 97 ; visits Ganeshi Lall's
shop, 96 ; reproves Mr. Jones, 96-
97 ; at Burdwan’s garden party,
97 ; deputation from Loyalists’
League, 98 ; at Ronaidshay’s
dinner, 98 ; receives Dharbunga’s
deputation, 99 ; and All-India Con-
ference Christians, 100 ; talks with
Sinha, Clarke, and Curtis, 100-10 1 ;
sets out scheme as on December 12,
102-104 ; leaves Calcutta, 105 ;
talks with Vincent, on the scheme,
105-106 ; modifies scheme by sub-
division of Provinces, 106-107 ;
arrives at Madras, 109 ; talks with
Chelmsford on procedure at Delhi,
iio-iii; sees Gillman and Sir

INDEX

401

Clement Simpson, 1 1 1 ; shoots near
the Chingleput Road, 112-113 ; talks
with Welby on Mrs. Besant case
113 ; and Mrs. Whitehead, 113-114
visits Aquarium and Zoo, 114
receives deputations from religious
associations, women and colleges,
114-116 ; discusses reform of
Government of India with Chelms-
ford, 116-117 ; meets Stokes, 117 ;
receives deputations from non-
Brahmans, Moslems and Ulemas,
1 18 ; plays joke on Roberts, 121,
126-127 ; visits Victoria Technical
Institute, 121 ; interviews with
Subba Rao, Achariyar of Salem,
Sarma, 1 21-122 ; Sastri, Ramas-
wami Aiyar, and Subrahmanya
Aiyar, 1 22-1 24, 128-129 ; dines at
Cosmopolitan Club, 124 ; sees
Editors Hindu and Swadesamitran
?and the Diwan of Mysore, 124 ; dines
^t Madras Club, 124-125 ; talks with
Pentland, 125-126 ; sees Srimivasa
Aiyangar and Dr. Nair, 127 ;
articles in Bombay Chronicle and
Madras Mail on, 129 ; talks with
Lady Pentland on her husband,
129-130 ; interviews Rev. Macphail,
Chetti, Achariyar and Garu, 130-

132 ; visits Madras harbour, 132-

133 ; meeting with his colleagues,
I 33 _I 34 > talks with Chelmsford on
the Report, 13 4- 135 ; his opinion
of Government in Madras, 135 ;
leaves Madras, 135, 136 ; on self-
government in India, 136-137 ;
talks with Basu on the scheme, 137-
138 ; receives deputations at Bom-
bay, 139 et seq. ; receives addresses
on Congress League schemes, 140 ;
talks with Paranjpye and Curtis,

1 41 ; modifies nomenclature of
scheme, 141 ; talks with Carmichael,

142 ; Christmas presents received
by, 142 ; talks with Jinnah on the
Alis, 142-143 ; and on Curtis's
scheme, 1 43-1 45 ; visits Vehar,
145 I consults with Chelmsford on
Persia, 146 ; receives deputations
from Bombay Presidency Associa-
tion and Deccan Sabha, 147 ; sees
a totalisator, 147-148 ; dines at the
BycullaClub, 148 ; interviews repre-
sentatives of the Deccan Ryots’ As-
sociation, Dougre, Setalwad, Chand-
avarkar and Rahimtoolah, 148-

DD

149 ; visits the Parel Institute, 149-

150 ; receives Mohammedan deputa-
tions, 150-1 5 1 ; meets Mrs. Egan,

15 1 ; sees Sir Stanley Reed,

1 51-152 ; Sir Sassoon David and
Shapoorji Broacha, 152 ; visits
Lady Ali Shah, 152 ; interviews
Mr. Standen, Mr. Patel, Fazulbhoy
Currimbhoy, Mr. Chitali and
Chaubal, 1 53-1 54 ; dines at the
Orient Club, 154-155 ; visits Bom-
bay Zoo, 155 ; visits Lady
Willingdon's home for crippled
soldiers, 155-156; Sir Sydney Row -
latt visits, 156 ; visits Elephanta
Caves, 156-157 ; receives deputa-
tions from Bombay Chamber of
Commerce and European Associa-
tion Branch, 157, 158 ; lunches with
Chaubal, 158 ; visits the Gaekwar
of Baroda, 158 ; interviews Broacha
and Chitnavis, 159 ; dines with
E. M. Cook, 159 ; congratulates
Birkett, 159 ; receives deputations
from the Central Provinces, 160-
161 ; interviews Muhammad Amin,
161 ; sends Chelmsford draft of
latest scheme, 161 ; visits Bombay
Natural History Society's premises,
161-162 ; interviews representatives
of Central Provinces and Berar
Graduates' Association, Mudholkar
and Kharparde, 162-163 ; explains
latest scheme to Setalwad, Chandar-
vaka and Rahimtoolah, 163 ; dis-
cusses the Scheme and Report with
Chelmsford, 163, 164, 176, 186, 188,
194, 196 et seq., 202, 205 et seq., 210,
211, 213, 214, 216, 220, 230 et seq.,
236, 237, 264 et seq., 269 et. seq.,
273, 274, 279, 283, 285 et. seq., 306,
307, 310, 312 et seq., 323 et seq., 330,
334- 335, 338, 340. 344- 355 ^ seq.,
3;>9i 3 60 . 36a, 3 6 6, 37° ; explains
scheme to Government of Bombay,
164 ; article on, in Bombay Chronicle ,
164, 165 ; leaves Bombay, 165 ;
at Gwalior, 166-175 ; discusses new
scheme with his colleagues, 176-177,
178 ; sees Aiyar and Sir George
Barnes, 177-178 ; makes his case
before Government of India, 179-
182 ; sees Meyer on the Budget, 182 ;
conferences with his colleagues on
A and B subjects, 183-184 ; sees
Woollacott, 184, 185 ; discusses

C.I.D. with Cleveland, 185, 192-

402

INDEX

193 ; further conferences on the
scheme with Government of India,
186-187, 194-195, 201 ; arranges
procedure with Chelmsford, 188 ;
discusses Native Princes with J. B.
Wood, 188 ; visits Bharatpur, 186-
192 ; lunches with Mahmudabad,
195 ; interviews Kapurthala, 195 ;
Alwar visits, 195-196 ; talks with
Alma Latifi, 196, 326 ; dines with
the Commander-in-Chief, 196 ; talks
with Lowndes and Maffey, 197 ;
lunches with Nair, 1 97-1 99 ; visits
Hamayun’s Tomb, 199 ; talks with
General Edwards on the I.M.S.,
200-201 ; talks with the Com-
mander-in-Chief, 201, 202 ; Chelms-
ford praises, 202 ; shoots in Patiala,
203-206 ; meets Heads of Provinces
in Conference at Delhi, 206-225 ;
speaks on " agitation," 2 15-2 17 ;
affected by the death of Duff, 218-
219 ; speaks at the Commander-in-
Chief s dinner, 220, 221-223 ;

Slocock inspires a modification of
scheme of, 223-224 ; shoots croco-
diles with Cleveland, 225-229 ;
discusses the new scheme with
delegation and the Viceroy, 229-
233 ; talks with Curtis, 231 et seq.,
236, 242, 246, 247, 266 ; his friend-
ship with Cleveland, 233-234 ; inter-
views Prosanto K. Sen and Jaipur,
234-235 ; visits tomb of Nizam-ud-
din, with Lady Chelmsford, 235 ;
sees Sastri and Bikaner, 236-237 ;
shoots in Dholpur, 238-242 ;
presented with poem inscribed to,
239-240 ; confers with the Princes,
243-244, 247 ; talks with Alwar,
245 ; his gloomy outlook at the
end of Conference, 247-248, 250-
251 ; discusses Indianisation with
Basu and Vincent, 249-250 ; shoots
in Kheri, 252-263 ; his discussion
and conferences on Government of
India, 264-280, 283-287, 306-310,
323, 333-334 I Montagu of Beaulieu
visits, 268 ; discusses I.C.S., 268-
269, 282, 286, 325, 326-327, 334 ;
has words with Chelmsford over the
scheme, 269-271 ; talks with
Chatterji, 272-273 ; Aiyar, Meyer
and Roos-Keppel, 274-275 ; attends
Legislative Council’s dinner, 275 ;
propaganda scheme of, 279-280 ;
shoots in Bharatpur, 280-282 ; works

on the Report (q.v.), 286 et seq . ;
difficulties of task and his accom-
plishment, 288, 338, 363-365 *. gives
dinner at the Gymkhana Club,
289 ; shoots in Alwar, 290-305 ;
Nair lunches with, 310, 31 1 ; talks
with Jinnah, 31 1 ; at Legislative
Council dinner, 31 1-3 12 ; takes
Chintamani into confidence, 313 ;
shoots in Jaipur, 314 et seq. ; dines
with Mahmudabad, 323-324 ; inter-
views several Indians, 325 ; receives
praise from Sastri, 326 ; sees
Andrews, 327 ; shoots in Bhopal,
327, 33° > attended by Dr. Austin
Smith for illness, 331-333. 335~33 6 ,
33 8 > 339-340 ; says good-bye to
Bannerjea, 336 ; talks with Nair,
Basu, Wood, and Mahmudubad on
the scheme, 337-338 ; at Dehra
Dun, working on the Report, 341
et seq. ; goes mahseer fishing, 342 ;
desires to be present at a conference
to consider Lloyd George’s appeal,
and the Viceroy’s attitude to, 349,
355. 357. 365. 366, 369-37° *. at
Simla, 351 et seq. ; sees the Com-
mander-in-Chief, Hill, Holland,
Hudson and Vincent on Lloyd
George's appeal, 352-355 ; attends
Old Cliftonian’s dinner, 359-360 ;
sees Colonel Longhurst, 361 ; lunch
given to by Colonel Verney, 363 ;
retrospect of his six months’ visit,
and his tribute to Chelmsford, 363-
365 ; at farewell dinner of delega-
tion and Council, 366 ; signs the
Report, 366 ; Booth Tucker talks
to, on the Salvation Army, 366-
368 ; advises Chelmsford, 370 ;
leaves Simla, 371 ; at Bombay,
372 ; and sees Sir Stanley Reed, on
the scheme, 373-374 ; leaves Bom-
bay in the Dufferin at Aden, 375 ;
and dines with General Stewart,
376 ; his tributes to and impressions
of his delegation, 377-379 ; passes
through the Canal, 379-380 ; dines
with the Comte de Serrionne at
Ismailia, 380 ; journeys on the
Liverpool to Taranto, 381-382 ;
political career of, 383.

Montague-Chelmsford Scheme and Re-
port, preliminary discussion and
ideas on, 1, 6, 7 ; on November 10,
12-14 » policy for Chiefs, 24-25 ;
Enabling Bills and Statutory

INDEX 403

enquiries for, 84; on December 12,
102-104, 157 ; agitation regarding,
133-134 ; skeleton of, to be drafted,
I35- i 36 ; modification of nomencla-
ture in, 14 1 ; Bombay attitude to,
147 ; draft of latest, 161, 163, 166 ;
new idea for Government of India,
165 ; Legislative Council to dis-
appear, 175 ; Government of India
approve, 176-177 ; but under a
misapprehension, 178 et seq . ;
limitation of a Provincial Govern-
ment in, 185-186 ; as it emerges
from Government of India Confer-
ence, 186-187 ; for reform of
Government of India, 194- 195 ; as
passed by Government of India
discussed by Heads of Provinces,
206 et seq. ; modification of partial
responsibility suggested, 210-21 1 ;
summary of results obtained by
January 26, 220-221 ; new ideas in
concerning A and B grouping, 223-
224 ; of January 26 approved by
delegation, 229, 230 ; draft com-
menced, 247 ; fear of public not
accepting, 247-248 ; E.S.M. studies,
252 ; addition suggested regarding
time of responsible government,
254 ; time for completion, 260 ;
Marris’s work on, 267, 269, 287-
288, 336, 340 ; and his allegations
regarding, 358-359 ; Duke's objec-
tions to and emendation suggested,
274 ; of February 22 explained and
agreed to by Government of India,
276-278 ; work on the draft of,
284, 286, 313, 334, 341 et seq., 355 ;
Council of State and affirmative
powers of Grand Councils in, 308-
310, 312 ; various opinion on, 325 ;
completion of conference on, 334 ;
six chapters agreed upon, 338 ;
Vincent's dissensions regarding, 344-
345 ; completions of, 349 ; confer-
ence received at Simla, 350, 351-
3 52, 356, 360-361 ; question of
order of signatures for, 360, 362-
363, 366 ; finished, 362 ; main
principles of, 362-363 ; signed, 366 ;
E.S.M.'s advice to Chelmsford upon,
370 ; soporific effects of, 375 ;
approved by E.S.M.'s adlati, 381.

Montagu, Lord, of Beaulieu, lunches
with E.S.M., 268.

Morley, Lord, reminiscences of, 19 1 ;
resignation of, 383.

DD*

Morley-Minto reforms, 87, 100, 114,

117, 215, 367.

Morning Post , articles on India in, 66.
Morvi, dispute between Cutch and, 23.
Moshin Shah, representing Punjab
Provincial Moslem League, 46.
Moslem Association, deputation from,
86 .

Moslem League, the attitude of,
regarding Mohamed Ali, 4 ; deputa-
tions from, 86.

Moslems, deputations from, 44 et seq.,

118.

Muddiman, A. P., 194.

Mudholkar, interview with, 56, 57 ;
in favour of dyarchy, and approves
E.S.M.’s scheme, 162-163.

Mukerjee, Babu, E.S.M.'s shoot with,
78, 94-95-

Mukerji Ashutosh, interview with,
on the University Commission, 90 ;
Homell 's depression on work of,
92 ; consults Viceroy on Calcutta
report, 341.

Mukerji, Lady, 87.

Mukerji, Rajendra, at Basu’s lunch,
81 ; at Sinha’s lunch, 87 ; suggests
conference of representative Indians,
88 ; on Ashutosh Mukerji, 90.
Mulberry trees, cultivation of in India,
368.

Mussooree, 341, 364.

Mysore Assembly, elected majority of,
68 ; Diwan of, 124.

N

Naidu, Mrs., the poetess, 115.

Nair, Dr., interview with on the
Brahman influence, 127.

Nair, Lady, 197.

Nair, Sir C. Sankaran, greets E.S.M.
at Delhi, 15 ; impossibility of, 31 ;
on threats of reprisals for internment
of the Alis, 52, 140 ; and the

“ sweetmeat " incident, 70 ; on
Wheeler’s statement regarding
Government intentions, 76 ; likes
E.S.M.'s scheme, 72-73 ; influence
of, 177, 198 ; Chelmsford omits to
speak about scheme to, 179 ; his
attitude to six years’ scheme, 180,
18 1 ; wrecking tactics of, 182, 184 ;
accepts modification of scheme,
January 11, 186, 187 ; E.S.M.

lunches with, 197-198 ; interest of,

4°4

INDEX

in ecclesiastical matters, 198 ; his
relations with Chelmsford, 198-
199 \ prepared to accept Govern-
ment of India proposals, 199 ; on
committee for A and B lists, 218 ;
divulges scheme to Legislative
Council, 242-243 ; complaints of,
regarding the scheme, 243-244 ;
opposes Budget proposals, 243, 247,
248, 251, 269-270, 275, 276 ; di-
vulges plans, 276 ; attitude of to
scheme of February 22, 277 ; inter-
view with, on affirmative powers,
284-285 ; general opposition of,
288 ; and to affirmative powers, 308
et seq. ; on the practice and theory
of the scheme, 310-311 ; support
for the scheme lost, 334 ; delighted
with the scheme, 337 ; agrees to
joint sessions, 359 ; house of, at
Simla, 365 ; other references, 174,
220, 312, 344, 345, 371.

Nana Sahib, Cleveland offered intro-
duction to, 234.

Naoroji, case of, 201.

Nasik, suggested as capital, 364.

National Review, the, articles on India
in, 66.

Native States, grievances of, 20 et seq. ;
E.S.M.'s policy for, 25, 103; servility
in, 168 ; necessity for modern
development in, 237 ; Alwar on
position of, 245, 294 ; and his book
on the problem of, 293 ; E.S.M.
considers a model treaty for, 281 ;
Wood on, 297.

Princes, need for differentiation

between, 21, 29 ; proposals of, 188,
196, 220, 221 ; and deputations
from, 230, 231 ; Wood’s attitude
to, 232-233 ; conferences with,
243 ; and redresses for, 243, 244 ;
status of representatives at Imperial
Conference, 335.

Nautch dance, a, 318-319, 324.

Nehru, Moti Lai, interview with, 62.

New Delhi, Lutyens’ architecture at,
31-32 ; stone from Dholpur for,
241.

Nizam, visit of, to Delhi and his
exaltation, 212--213, 218 ; E.S.M.
avoids meeting, 218, 230.

Nizam-ud-din, Mosque and Tomb of,
E.S.M. and Lady Chelmsford visit,
2 35*

O

O'Donnell, United Provinces, at draft-
ing of A and B list, 335.

O’Dwyer, Sir M. F., at Delhi, 30 ;
averse to an elected majority, 32 ;
impoliteness of Punjab Civil Service
discussed with, 36, 38-39 ; repre-
sentations of, at Delhi, 36, 37 ;
attitude of, to elected majority, 38,
39 ; scheme of, 40, 41, 309 ; opposes
the scheme, 193-194 ; general oppo-
sition of at meeting of Lieutenant-
Governors, 209, 212 ; on Committee
for A and B lists, 218 ; leaves
Delhi delighted, 224 ; effect of, on
Nair, 244.

Officialdom, Viceroy’s attitude to, 16,
I 7»

Ooty, migration to, 367.

Orient Club, Bombay, E.S.M. dines
at, 154-155*

Osmaston, 345.

Oudh, Talukdars of, desire for land-
lord Raj by, 41.

Outram, 94.

P

Palia Kalan, E.S.M. at, 252.

Palmer, Mrs., 153.

Panchamas, grievances of, 131

Pandit, Dr., dissent of, 160, 161.

Paranjpye, R. P., scheme of P.R.
presented by, 140, 141.

Parel Institute, the, E.S.M. visits,
149-150.

Partridge, host of, E.S.M. at a shoot,
112-113.

Partridge shooting at Bharatpur, 191.

Parsis, the, deputation from, 149.

Parsons, Mr. Alan, Christmas present
to E.S.M. from, 142 ; shoots in
Dholpur, 239 ; at Kheri shoot, 255,
256, 258, 259, 263 ; dinner at
Gymkhana Club arranged by, 289 ;
at Alwar's tiger hunt, 294 et seq. ;
at Jaipur, 314 et seq. ; at Dehra
Dun, 341 , E.S.M.'s impression of,
378-379 ; at Ismailia, 380 ; on the
Liverpool , 382 ; other references >
75, 199, 202, 222, 247, 371.

Patel, Mr., examples of limitations of
discussion given by, 153--154.

Patiala, E.S.M. shoots in, 202 et seq.

INDEX

Patiala, Maharaja, E.S.M.'s meetings
with, 1 8 ; on committee of Native
princes, 20 ; E.S.M.'s impressions
of, 21-22 ; E.S.M. shoots with, 203
et seq. ; representative at Imperial
Conference, 335, 375.

Patrick, of the India Office, in the
Military Department, 68-69.

Pentland, Lady, E.S.M.’s meetings
with, no, 120 ; on her husband and
the release of Mrs. Besant, 1 29-130.

Pentland, Lord, protests to E.S.M. of
leakage charge, 4 ; on the Govern-
ment of India scheme, 19 ; meets
E.S.M. at Madras, 109 ; on the
Madras Zoo, 114 ; h ; s attitude to
Mrs. Besant, 119, 126, 1 29-1 30 ;

gives pessimistic account of outlook
in Madras, 121, 125-126, 127 ; sup-
ports Madras Harbour request, 132 ;
deficiencies of, as Governor-General,
135, 136 ; speeches made by at
meeting of Heads of Provinces, 207
et seq. ; on the meeting, 213 ; poor
chairmanship of, 214 ; toast to, and
speech by at Monro's dinner, 221,
222 ; his action in regard to mi-
gration to Ooty, 367.

Pepys’s Diary, E.S.M. quotes from, 223.

Persia, Dobb's letter on British
alienation of democrats in, 64 ;
story of new religion in, 64, 99 ;
British and German dilpomacy in,
discussed by E.S.M. and Chelms-
ford, 146 ; E.S.M. discusses, with
Chelmsford, 286, 287.

Peterhoff, Sir Claude Hill's house at
Simla, 365.

Petit, Lady, 163.

Philippines, the, failure of responsible
government in, 15 1.

Phillips, Mrs., 120.

Pickford, Commissioner of Boy Scouts,
97-

Pillai, Vesava, 56.

Pinjore, Patiala’s palace at, 203.

Pioneer, the, on Montagu’s visit, 19-
20 ; representative of, 184 ; article
on Indian States in, 245.

Plague in India, n ; in Bharatpur,
281-282.

Plowden, Indian Police, on the growth
of anarchist movement, 98-99.

Pondicherry, the Governor of, E.S.M.
meets, 127.

Ponnayya, 130.

Police, Clarke's suggestion for ad-

405

ministration of, 93, 100-10 1 ; see
also under C.I.D.

Poona, Willingdon's model farm at, 6.

“ Precedence ” in India, 15-16, 312.

Press, the, in India, Mr. Walker on,
67 ; Curtis on, 76.

Press Act, 145.

Private secretary, qualities required
of, 378-379.

Privy Council and Indian affairs, 160 ;
for India proposed, 165, 264.

Proportional Representation, scheme
for, from non-official members of
Bombay Legislative Council, 141-
142.

Provinces, responsible government for,
84, 85 ; borrowing powers for, 106 ;
scheme for grouping and division,
106-107 ; question of boundaries,
247 ; decentralisation in, 306-308.

Provinces, Heads of, see under
Lieutenant-Governors.

Pugh, Colonel, speaks on behalf of
the Curtis scheme, 89.

Punjab, need for separate treatment
of, 32 ; impoliteness of Civil Service
in, 36, 38-39 ; poor representation
of views by, 37 ; interviews with
representatives from, 39-40 ; depu-
tations from, 49-50.

Punjab Chiefs Association, deputation
from, 50.

Punjab Provincial Congress, depu-
tation from, 56.

Punjab Provincial Moslem League, 46.

Q

Quayam, Abdul, political agent in
the Khyber, 275.

Queen Anne's Gate, bomb falls in, 234.

R

R.A.M.C., its relation with the I.M.S.,
200, 308.

Rahimtoolah, Sir Ibrahim, 143, 149,
I 55 > 163, 172, 176, 372, 373* 376.

Rahman, Aminur, representative of
the Moslem League, interview with,
86 .

Rainey on the I.C.S., 326.

Ram, Jiwa, poem by, presented to
E.S.M., 239-240.

Rampur, tiger hunt at, 1 73-1 74.

INDEX

406

Ranjitsinjhi, Jam Sahib, Maharajah
of Nawanagar, 28 ; see under Jam
Sahib.

Rao, Subba, interview with, 12 1.

Ravji, Saheb of Bharat pur, 281 ; at
tiger hunt in Alwar, 291, 294, 303,
3<>4 •

Ray, Nath, interview with, 83.

Reading, Lord, 308.

Reddiyar on Mrs. Besant and Home
Rule, 120.

Reed, Sir Stanley, Editor, Times of
India, provincial autonomy wanted
by, 54 ; attitudes to Montagu
schemes, 151-152, 153, 163, 164,
179 ; on Nair and Rahimtoolah’s
attitude to scheme, 373 ; and the
Durbar, 374.

Rennie, Colonel and Mrs., 342.

Report, the Montagu-Chelmsford, see
under Montagu-Chelmsford.

Residents, need for set of rules for,
27 ; attitude of Native Princes to,
244-

Rewards for Chiefs, despatch on, 52.

Rigby, Dr., 172-173.

Roberts, Charles, M.P., scheme of, 7 ;
E.S.M.'s discussion on Native
Princes with, 24 ; at the reception
of deputations, 34 ; favours Meyer
scheme, 41 ; assents to revised
memo., 55 ; pessimistic attitude of,
61, 69 ; on All-India Mohammedan
deputation at Delhi, 73 ; intends
to attend Congress, 106 ; new
scheme of, 106, 121, 161, 166, 177,
178 ; speaks at Cosmopolitan Club
and E.S.M.’s joke on, 120-121, 126-
127 ; Capital on, 134 ; on annoy-
ance of Bombay Executive Council,
156 ; on Nair’s wrecking tactics,
182, 184 ; list of provincial functions
prepared by, 183 ; general antagon-
ism of, 192 ; committee work of, on
A and B lists, 218 ; against Marris
on Indianisation, 268 ; at Alwar,
290 ; discussion with on provincial j
decentralisation, 306-308 ; meticu-
lously-minded, 313 ; E.S.M.'s bet
with, 320 ; dines with Mahmudabad,
323 ; drafting of A and B lists by,
335 ; asks E.S.M. to see Ghandi,
339 ; works on the Report, 355 ;
E.S.M.'s impression of, 378 ; on
the Liverpool, 381 ; other refer-
ences, 19, 31, 34, 94, 284, 286.

Robertson, Sir Benjamin, attitude to

E.S.M.'s scheme, 60, 63, 193 ; at
meeting of Heads of Provinces, 207,
209 ; refuses new policy of January
23, 212 ; on Pentland's chairman-
ship, 214 ; leaves Delhi delighted,
224 ; suggested to succeed O’Dwyer,
37°*

Robinson, Geoffrey ( The Times), and
Curtis, 262.

Ronaldshay, Earl of, letter from to
E.S.M. , on Mohammedans of Bengal,
4 ; becoming a Curtisite, 75 ; com-
promise of Sinha and, on Standing
Committees, 76 ; E.S.M.’s presenta-
tion to, 82 ; E.S.M. at dinner given
by, 98-99 ; qualities of, 10 1 ; atti-
tude of, to the proposals, 199-200 ;
his speech at meeting of Heads of
Provinces, 208.

Ronaldshay, Lady, 82.

Roos-Keppel, Sir G. O., at Delhi, 30 ;
success of and his need for a change,
32-33 ; suggested governorship for,
36-37 ; on Indianisation, 275.

Robertson, General, Sir William, Mon-
ro's admiration for, 268, 361 ;

resignation of, 268.

Ross, Major and Mrs., 287.

Rowlatt, Mr. Justice, 374, 381, 382.

Rowlatt, Sir Sydney, reception and
difficulties of, in journey from
England, 156; meets E.S.M., 156,
T 57*

Roy, Manilal Singh, interview with,
on local government, 88.

Ruling Chiefs Committee recommen-
dations, 235.

Rupee, fixing of exchange value of,
37, 38 ; issue of notes for, in Madras,
120, 125.

Russia, British alienation of Persia
through attitude to, 64 ; Lloyd
George's references to, 185.

S

Sadler consults the Viceroy on Cal-
cutta report, 341.

Saha, Raja Hrishikesh, leads Bengal
National Chamber of Commerce
interview, 83.

Said Pasha, chivalry of, 376.

St. Pancras, air raid on, 361.

Salampur, E.S.M. at, 329.

Salt, import of into India, 90.

INDEX

407

Salvation Army, work of in India,
366-368.

Samarth, Mr., 147.

Sandavakar, to attend Delhi Con-
ference, 373.

Sanderson, Lancelot, 308.

Sapru (United Provinces), interview
with, 62 ; other references, 323,

363-

Sarbadhakari, at Basil's lunch, 81 ;
interview with, 83.

Sarkar, Dr., 83.

Sarma, interview with, T22 ; speech
of, on provincial boundaries, 246.

Sastri, Srinivasa, gives four con-
ditions of acceptable scheme, 122,
129 ; favours conference of non-
official Indians, 123 ; helpful talk
with, 124 ; on A and B subjects,
223 ; lacks enthusiasm for the
scheme, 236 ; chides Nair, 242 ;
speaks on provincial boundaries,
247 ; E.S.M. expounds scheme to,
325 ; views of, on E.S.M.'s work
in India, 326.

Sat Kezari, 238.

Setalwad, approves modified Mon-
tagu Scheme, 163, 164, 176.

Scindia, Maharaja of Gwalior, meets
E.S.M. at Delhi, 15 ; meetings with
E.S.M. , 18 ; on the Conference for
Native States, 21 ; ideas of, on
Reform, 26-27 » wishes Govern-
ment to take part in Id and Duhse-
ra, 27-28 ; E.S.M. the guest of,
at Gwalior, 166 et seq. ; driving
of, 166 ; progressive character of,
166-167 ; at a tiger-hunt, 168 et
seq. ; favours a Princes' Chamber,
168, 175 ; Government of India’s
treatment of, 173, 174 ; his know-
ledge of tigers, 1 74-1 75 ; Hindu
Kingdom planned by, 275 ; recom-
mended as representative of Native
States at Imperial Conference, 335,

356.

Scott, General and Mrs., 330.

Second Chamber, suggested in the
Provincial Government and in the
Government of India, 95, 103,

105, 117, 141, 157, 161, 177, 230
et seq. ; Princes for, 124 ; varying
attitude of members of delegation
to, 178 ; Government of India’s
discussion of and attitude to, 179,
180, 187, 188, 192 ; E.S.M.'s speech
on, 194-195.

Sen, Mr., Indian Association, 83.

Sen, Prosanto K., at Basu's lunch,

* 81 ; on failure of Congress, 234.

Serrionne, Comte de, E.S.M. lunches
with, at Ismailia, 380.

Servants, Indian, amusing incident
regarding, 73-74.

Setalvad, Mr., Vice-Chancellor of Bom-
bay University, 148-149.

Seton, Sir Malcolm, at the reception of
deputations, 34 ; down with fever,
65 ; helps to draft letter to local
governments, 90 ; writes memo, on
conference of non-official Indians,
1 33 ; favours Two Chambers in
Provinces, 178 ; his attitude to
Marris emendation, 268 ; E.S.M.
discusses with, 284 ; shoots at
Jaipur, 314 et seq. ; at Dehra Dun,
341 ; E.S.M.'s impression of, 378.

Shaft explains split from Moslem
League, 31 ; on Sind and the
Punjab, 246.

Shah, Lady Ali, mother of Aga Khan,
E.S.M. meets, 152.

Shahabad, E.S.M. at, 138.

Shapoorji, philanthropy of, to
Europeans, 152.

Shaw, Indian Police, at Habra shoot,
94 - 95 -

Shija-ud-din, Dr., representing Punjab
Provincial Moslem League, 46.

Shiva, carving relating to at Elephanta
Caves, 157.

Sikhs, E.S.M.'s impressions of, 49 ;
deputations from, 30.

Silk cocoon rearing, Salvation Army's
interest in, 367-368.

Simla, E.S.M. at, 351 et seq. ; delega-
tion leaves, 371.

Simon, Sir John, 308.

Simpson, Sir Clement, head of Binny's,
t ; 1 .

Sinclair, musical-box chair presented
by, sold at Madras, 120.

Sindh, Congress Party in, protest
against division between Sindh and
Bombay, 12 ; separation of from
the Punjab, 151, 246.

Singh, Daljit, on need for Indians in
the I.C.S., 27.

Singh, Jogendra, schemes of, 50.

Singh, Lala Sukhbir, 67.

Singh, Raja, at Bharatpur, 190.

Singh, Ranjit, at Gujner, 54.

Sinha, Lady, 87, 98.

Sinha, Sir, later Lord, E.S.M. outlines

INDEX

408

his scheme to, 76-77 ; at Basu’s
lunch, 81 ; E.S.M. at lunch given
by, 87 ; scheme of, based on village
councils, 100 ; suggestion of, as
Secretary of State for India, 104 ;
to come to Delhi, 205 ; E.S.M.
discusses six year scheme with, 217 ;
leaves Delhi delighted, 224 ; sug-
gested as witness to see the
internees, 273 ; favours the pro-
posals, 323 : appointed a delegate
to Imperial Conference, 356.

Siwai Madhopur, shooting camp at,
3 ' 5

Sloan, Mr , joint secretary for deputa-
tions at Delhi, 34.

Slocock, F. S. A., Chief Secretary
to Chief Commissioner Central
Provinces, E.S.M. 's meetings with,

219, 223.

Sly, Sir F. G., favours new scheme,
224 ; suggested for Council, 370.

Smith, Lieut. -Col. Austen, report on
Medical Service by, 325 ; attends
E.S.M., 331 et seq., 335, 338, 339.

Smith, Manners, 53.

Snakes, scarcity of in cold weather,
49 ; preparation of serum for bites

by, 150.

Snipe-shooting, 112.

Solicitor General, Government of India
proposals for, 303.

Sorabji, Miss, 185.

South Africa, Gandhi and the Indian
question in, 58 ; Government of,
307-

Sports Club, Bombay, 3.

Sport, colour question in, 3-4.

Spring, Sir Francis, requests material
for Madras harbour, 1 32-1 33.

Standen, Mr., Commissioner of the
Berer division, interview with, 153.

Standing Committee of House of
Commons, for India suggested, 31 1,
313, 314 ; and Nair’s desire for, 334.

Standing Committees, 76, 135.

Statesman, the, 185.

Stevenson-Moore, I.C.S., interview
with, 75.

Stewart, General, at Aden, 376.

Stewart, of the Munitions Board, 194.

Stokes, E.S.M. meets, 117.

Stuart, Harold, 367.

Studd, A.D.C. to Lord Willingdon, 171.

Suez Canal, E.S.M.’s journey through,
377. 379-38o.

Supreme Court at Delhi, need for, 42.

Swadesamitr an , E.S.M.’s talk with
Editor of, 124.

“ Sweetmeats,” term for bomb?,
C.I.D.’s mistake regarding, 70.

Sydenham, Lord, Willingdon on, 6 ;
Indian regard for, 66 ; useless letter
from, 98 ; Mrs. Besant purposes
action against, 118 ; activities of,
346, 368 ; and effects of agitation
by. 353-354-

T

Tagore brothers, paintings of, 85, 92.

Tagore, Goganindra, caricatures of, 92.

Tagore, Raobindra, 92.

Talaat Bey, Mohamed Ali’s telegram
to, 193.

Tal Tabli, poem presented to E.S.M.
at, 239-240.

Taluk Boards, 1 31- 132.

Talukdars and Sardars of Gujarat,
deputation from, 149.

Talukdars of Oudh desire landlord
Raj, 41.

Tamil country, proposed division
from Telugu area, hi.

Taracharan, at Kheri, 255, 257, 258.

Tata, Sir Dorab, expects E.S.M. at
the Durbar, 369.

Telugu country, proposed division
from Tamil area, in.

Teysildar, Shah Jehan's palace at, 241.

Thesiger, 205.

Theosophical Society, Mrs. Besant
President of, 59.

Thompson, Chief Secretary of the
Punjab, belief in O'Dwyer's policy
by, 39 ; meets E.S.M. about draft-
ing of A and B list, 335.

Tiger hunting, at Kheri, 253-254 ; at
Darkiwa, 260-261 ; in Alwar, 290
et seq. ; in Jaipur, 315 et seq. ; in
Bhopal, 328-329.

Tilak, welcomes E.S.M. at Bombay,
3 ; E.S.M to see, 43 ; on depu-
tation of Home Rule League, 56 ;
places garland on E.S.M.’s neck,
59 ; author of the Congress Scheme,
61 ; interview with and impression
of, 61-62 ; successor to, 67 ; an
extremist, 217 ; English visit pur-
posed by, 288 ; but stopped at
Colombo, 345-346 ; Vincent's
anxiety over, 354 ; offers of help
from, 359 ; exclusion of, from

INDEX

Delhi Durbar, 373 ; and bad effect
of, 381-382 ; power of, 373 ; against
report, 374.

Times , the, Chirol's article in, 7 ;
articles on India in, 66 ; Curtis's
influence with, 101 ; Woollacott,
the representative of, 184.

Tirhia Tal, shoot at, 262-263.

Todhunter, Mr Justice, 124.

Totalisator, the, E.S.M. sees at
Bombay, 147-148.

Tucker, Booth, talk with on the
Salvation Army and the criminal
tribes of India, 366-368.

Tughlakabad, E.S.M. and Lady
Chelmsford visit, 235.

Two Chambers, see under Second
Chamber.

U

Udaipur, Maharana, compliments and
good wishes to E.S.M. from, 69.

Ulemas, departure from, against Home
Rule, 1 18.

Ulysses , E.S.M. quotes from, 222.

United Provinces, financial crisis in,
348.

United Provinces Chamber of Com-
merce, deputation from, on tariffs,
48.

United Provinces Committee Scheme,
105.

United Provinces Moslem Defence
Association, deputation from, 45.

United Services Club, Simla, E.S.M.
attends Old Cliftonians' dinner at,
359~36o.

University Commission in Bengal, 90,
92.

V

Vanderghugt, 359.

Vaughan, General, 359.

Vehar, artificial lake at, 145.

Verney, Mrs., 362.

Verney, Lieut. -Col. R., meets E.S.M.
at Bombay, 2 ; attends a shoot,
77 ; snipe shooting by, 112; looks
for a bear in Dholpur shoot, 242 ;
shoots at Farikdot, 296 ; at Jaipur,
314 et seq. ; shoots in Bhopal, 329 ;
E.S.M.'s tribute to, 362 ; gives
E.S.M. farewell letter from Chelms-

409

ford, 374 ; other references, 124,
I 9 I » 37 1 -

Viceregal Lodge, Simla, 351.

Viceroy, the, qualities necessary for,
16-17 ; methods for keeping in touch
with the Secretary of State, 26-
27 ; E.S.M. talks with Chelmsford
on essentials for, 29-30 ; suggestions
for a Royal, 82, 192, 196, 197 ; and
Burma, 87 ; divisions of function of,
104 ; aloofness of, 108.

Victoria Technical Institute, Madras,
E.S.M. visits, J2i.

Vincent, head of Bombay Police, 373.

Vincent, Sir W. H., meeting with,
and impression of, 19 ; at the
reception of deputations, 34 ; to
investigate fundamental legislation
scheme, 42 ; on corruption follow-
ing self-government, 67 ; attitude
to E.S.M.'s scheme, 72, 105-106,
180, 183-184 ; as modified January
11, 186, 187, January 23, 211, 247,
248 ; memo, of, 166, 177 ; in favour
of Second Chamber in provinces,
178 ; violent opposition of, at
meeting of Heads of Provinces, 209 ;
on committee for A and B lists,
218 ; writes note on Indianisation,
229, 249 ; desires immediate Act,
249 ; on committee to consider
composition of Council of State,
283 285 ; agrees on Banner jea's

internees' resolution, 287 ; general
opposition of, 288 ; interposition
of, and dissension with the Report,

324. 330, 344-345# 349-350# 371 ;

suggestions of, regarding Lloyd
George's War appeal, 349, 354-
355# 361 ; other references, 15, 124,
194# *95-

W

Wacha, Sir Dinshaw, 147.

Wadya, Mr., 147.

Wake, Admiral, 374.

Walker, Mr., host of E.S.M. at a
shoot, 112-113, 124.

Walker, Mr., representative of the
Manchester Guardian , on his im-
pressions of Indian political unrest,
65-66.

Waller, Bishop of Tinnevelly, ex-
plains Brahman position, 115.

War, the, India's attitude to, 70 ;

4io

INDEX

effect of adverse news on E.S.M.,
338-339 ; appeal from Lloyd
George for further contributions for,
349, 352 et seq., 355~356 ; and
conference to consider, 356-358,
360-361, 371 ; E.S.M.’s optimism
regarding, 3 7^3 77-

War Loan, scheme for raising, 159.

War profits tax suggested, 159.

Watson, Resident at Bharatpur,
invites E.S.M. to a duck shoot, 280
et seq.

Welby of the Madras Mail, ability
of, 1 13 ; speech of, refusing
announcement of August 20, 323.

Wheeler, Sir Henry, reactionary atti-
tude of, 76.

Whitehead, Mrs., on the change in
Madras, 113-114.

Willingdon, Lady, vitality and
hospitality of, 1 39-140 ; Christmas
present from, 142 ; on Shapoorji’s
philanthropy, 152 ; her friendship
with Lady Ali Shah, 152 ; Home for
Crippled Soldiers run by, 155-156 ;
E.S.M.’s admiration for, 165; at
Gwalior, 172, 174.

Willingdon, Lord, welcomes E.S.M.
at Bombay, 3 ; conversation with
E.S.M. on Reform, 5 et seq. ; on
Mrs. Besant, 4 ; popularity of, 5, 22,
23, I 39 » T 55 » 165 ; favours Bombay
Princes coming under central govern-
ment, 28-29 i accessibility of, 135 ;
hospitality of, 139 ; desires to send
deputation to England, 142 ; his
opinion of E.S.M.’s schemes, 149,
157, 164, 210, 212, 306 ; presides
over agriculture, 15 1 ; approves
letter to Chelmsford, 163 ; E.S.M.’s
admiration for, 165 ; at Gwalior,
166 et seq. ; and hunts tigers at
Kulaith and Rampur, 171, 173 ;
at intercession service, 173 ; at
Delhi for conference of Heads of
Provinces, 206 et seq. ; opposes

Government of India’s proposals,
208 ; but compromises, 209 ; con-
siders Craddock's scheme, 213 ;
agrees with Meston’s compromise,
215 ; agrees with E.S.M. on “ Agi-
tation," 217 ; on committee for
A and B subjects, 218, 224 ; sug-
gested for Madras, 370 ; other
references, 158, 162, 373.

Wilson, General Sir Henry, 346, 361.

Wilson, President, speech of, 185.

Willingdon Sports Club, E.S.M. a life
member of, 155.

Wingate, Sir Reginald, telegram to
E.S.M. from, 377.

Women of India, request for interview
from, 5 ; demand the franchise,
115-116.

Wood, Sir J. B., on the Princes’
proposals, 188 ; his attitude to the
Native Princes, 232, 233 ; on the
Native States, 297 ; E.S.M. urges,
to get a move on, 337.

Woollacott, Times correspondent, in
Delhi, against Indian aspirations,
184-185.

Y

Yacht Club, Bombay, 3.

Young, Popham, Commissioner of
Rawal Pindi, suggests a party
system and Second Chamber, 40.
Yuvaraj, use of the title, 23.

Z

Zemindars, of Agra, desire landlord
Raj, 41 ; of United Provinces send
a deputation, 63.

Zionist declaration by Balfour, 18.
Zoo, the, at Calcutta, 78, 82-83, 98 ;
at Madras, 114, and at Bombay,

115.

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